Overall, the domestic rail business showed growth over 2024, with increased revenue offset by a reduction in revenue from the two arm’s length subsidiaries, worldwide logistics carrier Geodis and transport operator Keolis. Revenue for the individual subsidiaries and comparisons with 2024 were:
Passenger services saw further growth with TGV traffic up 3.5% to 168 million journeys. TGV occupancy in 2025 was 86 per cent, up 2 per cent on 2024, and strikes were more numerous, costing €41 million in reimbursements and loss of revenue. For services sponsored by Île-de-France and the régions a return of commuter traffic saw Transilien journeys increase by 4%, while TER journeys increased by 2.8%. 

On the freight side, RLE's performance was viewed as good in a sluggish market, with traffic losses stemming from the 'economic discontinuance' of Fret SNCF largely offset by new customers and growth across the intermodal subsidiaries, particularly Naviland (maritime intermodal) and VIIA (rolling motorway). This appears to reflect the restructuring within RLE during the year of its combined transport division with more integrated working of its intermodal sectors. The position is further strengthened with the acquisition earlier this year of Seatruck, increasing the number of freight forwarders from 70 to 120.

After two years spent assessing the trains and planning a work programme, the first O2D production line was set up last September at Châtillon Technicentre Atlantique in Paris, followed by commissioning in January of lines at Le Landy in Paris and Rennes-La Janais; the technicentres at Hellemmes and Longueau are also involved. The scheme covers: 

● 81 single-deck trains built in the 1990s found to be good for up to four more years’ service. They receive a light makeover, including renewal of seat covers, carpets, armrests, electrical sockets and lighting; upgrade of bar and toilet fittings; exterior paintwork touched up; work takes about seven weeks. 

● 23 double-deck trains needing more substantial renovation to extend life-span for up to 10 years. These trains undergo a total interior refit and have additional seating, as well as modernisation of traction equipment; the work taking up to six months. 

All trains receive checks to safety equipment and ERTMS, upgrading of HVAC, toilets and lighting, and an interior deep clean. Three trains were in such a poor state as to be written-off; they are being cannibalised for reusable parts. 

This year will see 26 refurbished trains return to service followed by 23 in 2027, together contributing 17,700 seats which would otherwise have been lost. Thereafter, with nearly half the 104 sets revamped, the pace will slow to around 10 per year through to 2033, by which time the greater part of the TGV M fleet should be operational.

On 28 February  Hexafret BB 27049  passes Valenciennes towing TGV M set 1401 en route from Belfort to the Alstom plant at Raismes after testing in Italy.   Set 1401, the first of 15 four-current TGV Ms for operation in Italy, ran trials at Bologna’s San Donato test centre at the end of last year (see December 2025 News) and has been running throughout the network as part of its homologation process. A report in La Republicca says the double-deck sets are too high to pass through numerous tunnels on classic routes, access to which RFI maintains is essential for out-of-course running when LGV lines are disrupted. SNCF insisted that it had worked with RFI to ensure the train’s compatibility with all high-speed lines and potential alternative routes. The train has yet to be approved for service. Photo: Didier Delattre.

SVI welcomed the 6 March decision as ‘a step forward’ though a new offer of 18 paths (out of the 26 requested) for a period of 10 years is still deemed insufficient for implementation of its plans; it had sought a 15-year agreement. It ‘awaits guarantees on all the commitments necessary for its entry…to the Italian high-speed market’. Assuming more paths are made available, and agreement reached on access to depots and maintenance facilities, start of operations would be in September 2027. 

SVI had applied in 2024 to run two new services in Italy: four daily A/R Turin – Venice and nine Turin – Naples, plus the existing Paris – Milan twice-daily (one fewer than at present due to the higher capacity of TGV M trainsets), with a 2026 start. Difficulties were encountered in negotiating paths and depot access with RFI and FS, the allocation offered for the first stage of development covering only 30% of the paths requested, and a second offer only 15%. Hence the complaint to AGCM which has taken almost a year to assess.

On 17 March, Trenitalia signed an agreement with SNCF to lease for 35 years a site at Maisons-Alfort Pompadour southeast of Paris for construction of a maintenance depot with capacity for up to 25 Frecciarossa trainsets. As well as simplifying maintenance schedules for Trenitalia’s French operations, currently carried out in Milan, the site will offer a springboard for its proposed services from Paris to London and its European high-speed metro vision. Commissioning is planned for 2029 at a cost of €80 million.

In one of his first interviews, PDG Jean Castex reiterated his predecessor’s call for a level playing field for all operators, saying: “SNCF will not accept competition that focuses [only] on the profitable part of the railway, so that we [SNCF] no longer have the means to serve the least profitable areas.” 

GE’s move is a further blow to the traction alternative following Alstom’s decision to pause its hydrogen development programme (see January News). According to La Lettre, even the main proponent of the project Occitanie is becoming restless. The Luchon branch reopened last year was to have been a showcase for hydrogen traction. Now, it seems Occitanie is refusing to pay its share of the trains’ costs and claiming compensation for late delivery. 

Paradoxically, Occitanie’s Technocampus Hydrogène at Toulouse is gearing up for opening next year. Researchers, industrial groups and start-ups will test hydrogen production processes and applications under real-world conditions for use in aeronautics, heavy transport and energy-generation. The région is investing €29 million under its Plan Hydrogène Vert adopted in 2019.

Channel Tunnel concessionaire Getlink announced annual results at the end of February. Total revenue was down 1% at €1.595 billion although EBITDA was up 4% at €859 million. Broken down between Getlink's component companies, the figures are: 

Eurotunnel. Revenue up 4% at €1.198 billion with EBITDA up 5% at €667 million. Passenger traffic was up 2% with Eurotunnel having 56% of the cross-channel car market. Truck volume was down 3% due to reduced economic activity though Eurotunnel maintained its share of the cross-channel market at 35.4%. 

Eleclink that provides cable capacity for imported electricity saw revenue fall by 20% to €225 million with EBITDA at €158 million; 81% of 2026 capacity has already been pre-sold. 

Europorte, the French freight operator, saw revenue up by 2% at €172 million with EBITDA up 6% at €34 million. Last July it acquired a 67% holding in Electrofer SAS which specialises in anti-wear treatment of new rail, railhead restoration, welding, bending and milling; this should facilitate Eurotunnel's expansion into the infrastructure market.

CER welcomed EC work to draft a regulation covering military mobility, with a number of strategic corridors identified along with 500 ‘hot spots’ needing interventions to boost throughput. While the corridors cannot be identified for security reasons, there was said to be a high degree of overlap with TEN-T axes. Mazzola cautioned that technical specifications for the TEN-T rail network did not cover loading gauge requirements for military traffic. “We need an extra 20cm on all tunnel dimensions”, he said. 

Noyon. A 2.2km deviation to take the railway over the canal on a new bridge about 90m long, necessitating diversion of the Divette river and construction of an underpass for wild animals. The deviation will rejoin the existing alignment just south of the bridge over the Canal du Nord.

Rail elements of the plans include enhanced services on all six routes out of Toulouse Matabiau: to Castelnau-d’Estrétefonds and Montauban, Saint-Sulpice-Tarn, Villefranche-de-Lauragais, Auterive, Carbonne and L’Isle-Jourdain. These would have trains every 10 or 15 minutes at peak hours and half-hourly during an operating day extended from 05.00 to 23.00. Four of the six routes are electrified; diesel or bio-fuel trains will continue to serve the L’Isle-Jourdain and Saint-Sulpice lines. 

Within a few days of discovery of a track deformation at Ginabat on the line from Toulouse to Latour-de-Carol on 18 February, it became clear that a major embankment slippage was underway. As recorded in last month’s News, the line in Ariège département was severely affected by February’s bad weather. The RN20 road from Toulouse to Andorra, closed for seven weeks, reopened earlier than envisaged on 9 March, though too late to ease the plight of struggling winter resorts. Even smugglers were finding the going tough, resorting to robbing the customs post at L’Hospitalet-près-l’Andorre of alcohol and cigarettes to serve their clients. 

A section of embankment 70m long and 18m high carrying the single track between Foix and Tarascon-sur-Ariège was found to be slipping at a rate of 300mm per day. SNCF Réseau began work on 2 March with placement of 10,500m3 of material at the foot of the embankment to arrest the slippage. This was followed by consolidation and stabilisation works prior to reconstructing the alignment. Large quantities of hardcore and other material had to be located at short notice and brought to the site; 500 lorryloads of rock were deposited in the first phase of work. SNCF Réseau said it hoped to reopen the line ‘before the summer’. 

SNCF and Occitanie mobilised substantial resources to keep trains moving, though ultimately to no avail. Normal service is running between Toulouse and Foix, with buses thence to Ax-les-Thermes. At first these connected with five A/R on to Latour, a single EMU running ‘one train in section’. With three EMUs and a BB 7250 loco trapped at Ax there was no shortage of rolling stock, but it proved impossible to provide for their maintenance without an inspection pit, so the service was replaced by buses from 14 March. Patronage had been brisk, with over 5,000 emergency €1 tickets sold, though with Occitanie’s Skirail offer withdrawn, resorts were receiving 1,000 fewer Toulousains at weekends. Nevertheless, a large fleet of buses was required to distribute those continuing to arrive at Foix by train. It was hoped to restore the Skirail service for the last few weekends of the winter season.

At a press conference on 9 March, SNCF Réseau outlined investment of €90 million ‘to regenerate the line in Ariège’ over the coming years. Regional officials dismissed rumours that the line would be abandoned, insisting that it remained a vital part of the national network.

Andorra. After seven weeks without road access from France and businesses losing up to 80% of turnover, the prime minister Xavier Espot called on France to join in reviving proposals for a railway from L’Hospitalet-près-l’Andorre to El Pas de la Casa just over the border. Such a line would not be long (it’s 13km by road) but would be complex and costly to build in the mountainous terrain; the alignment would be almost entirely on French soil. The matter was to be raised with president Macron (who is co-prince of Andorra) during his visit to the country at the end of this month.

Photo: France TV.

ERTMS. Increased investment will pave the way for installation of ERTMS between Le Mans and Nantes starting in 2029 and likely to take 10 years. This will raise capacity from eight to 12 trains/h, sufficient to absorb demand through the 2040s. There will also be considerable savings in signalling and infrastructure maintenance. The €1 billion cost includes €250 million for a new control centre at Le Mans and €220 million for Nantes. In a later stage, ERTMS will be extended to the Nantes – Redon – Rennes and Rennes – Brest lines.

BB 27311 passes Pompignan on 17 March with Infra 66628 Saint-Jory – Hourcade consisting of BB 22292/22367/22383/22300 and 22302. Photo: Georges Turpin.

The leaked guide was hastily taken down, SNCF saying it was a ‘working document, unvalidated…and not representing our values’. Sud-Rail pointed out that employment contracts mention only wearing of the regulation uniform. ‘Nowhere is it stipulated that workers must adapt their body, their silhouette or their appearance to the aesthetic requirements of the company. Nowhere is it expected that makeup, beard management or morphology would be professional criteria’. 

On 24 February CC 72084 returned to service, having been out of action for some months, when it hauled X 4786 (formerly of the Auxois CFT) from Les Laumes to Pont-de-Dore (for the Haut-Forez CFT at Estivareilles) via Dijon, Nevers, and Clermont-Ferrand. Seen above passing Km 381on the Bourbonnais line, near Radan, north of Clermont Ferrand. Photo: Jean-Louis Poggi.

On the 20 March former Réseau Breton E 327, now preserved by GECP at Puget-Théniers in PACA, was the first of the visiting locomotives to Arrive at Saint-Valery for the forthcoming Fête de la Vapeur 2026 over the weekend of 25/26 April. The opportunity was taken to bring it alongside classmate E 322, currently awaiting restoration. Photos: Jocelyne Bourneuf.

Association de Préservation du Patrimoine Ferroviaire de l'Est (APPFE) is organising public viewings of BB 15001 on Saturday 25 April from 10.00 to 18.00, divided into eight one-hour presentation slots. The event will take place at SNCF’s Grand-Est Technicentre, 19 rue Georges Wodli, 67000 Strasbourg. The programme for visitors is:

● Presentation of the association’s aims and projects;
● Guided tour of the locomotive, with technical explanations and historical anecdotes;
● Q&A session with the volunteers.

Registration is mandatory but free, donations welcome.

Blanc-Argent preservation group SABA has new covered accommodation at La Foulquetière between Écueillé and Luçay-le-Mâle. On 17 February it contained three former La Mure coaches that had originated on the NSTCM - TPN at Noyon. Outside, the trackwork was still to be connected. Photo: Jean-Louis Poggi.

In the next stage of the Octys 2030 programme for installation of CBTC, Alstom has been contracted to install the system on metro Line 8. Completion is scheduled for 2029 when MF19 trains are due to enter service. This is the sixth line to be equipped with computer-based train control.