Guillaume Pepy, president of SNCF, is strongly in favour of strengthening the ‘made in France’ brand for the country’s rail industry. Speaking as guest of honour at the first year meeting of the French Association of Rail Engineers (AFFI) in January, he reminded the 200 guests that a skilled and united engineering force is key to keeping France at the forefront of developments and innovation in the sector. “If our country is to stay among the top five rail nations worldwide,” he warned, “manufacturers, infrastructure manager RFF, operators and private engineering firms must work together. There cannot be a French industry without a skilled and united engineering force,” he added. Held at the Romanian Embassy in Paris, the meeting was chaired by Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, director of the International Union of Railways (UIC), and also attended by Roxana Iftimie, former minister plenipotentiary of foreign affairs in the Romanian government and chargé d’affaires ad interim. The 21st century marks the return of rail technology across the globe, reckons Mr Pepy. Yet he is surprised there a so few major players in this fast moving market. “Outside France it’s amazing how the number of other important rail countries worldwide can be counted on one hand,” he remarked, referring to Japan, Germany, Spain, plus emerging players such as China and Korea. On a company level, the SNCF is taking steps to stay ahead stay ahead of the game by putting technology back into the heart of its activities. This includes creating an extra 1,000 engineering jobs over three years, setting up a specialist postgraduate degree in rail and investing in young engineers to gain skills and encourage innovation. “By 2013, 80 to 90% of the SNCF will have entered a competitive market and this is an opportunity,” he told participants. “The arrival of new entrants will result in a fight over the quality of services, but if we do the job properly we can take our know-how and experience and export it elsewhere in Europe and the world.”
The growing importance for rail operators to reach beyond the concept of station-to-station services is another trend the SNCF has taken on board. The operator is aware that the future lies in offering attractive alternatives to private car ownership that involve providing door-to-door solutions. And as a ‘mobility provider’ it is taking an active interest in all systems such as electric cars, car sharing, the tram train and optimisation software likely to generate offerings to rival individual transport in the future.The SNCF is outsourcing its IT activities by creating a 51/49 joint venture with software giant IBM. “Our aim is to improve the efficiency of the services we offer to our customers, both passengers and freight shippers, by drawing on IBM’s ability to innovate,” said president Guillaume Pepy. The new, Paris-based company began operating in January 2010 and is headed by former chairman of IBM France, Daniel Chaffraix. It will maintain, develop and produce applications for tasks such as e-ticketing, real-time service updates, management of time slots and timetables and online ordering and tracking of rail freight services
Despite the tough economic climate and perhaps thanks to market liberalisation and growing competition between operators to gain share, Mr Pépy believes the rail engineering industry has a promising future. “I am convinced that the fight between offers will be based won on service fundamentals such as security and regularity, then on the capacity for technological innovation,” he said.The SNCF is fully aware of the impact of advanced technology on latest generation trains. In both France and abroad, production processes and travel experiences are changing as the ‘communicating’ train becomes more widespread and stations expand their portfolio of services.
“The rail sector in France is rapidly developing and many questions are being raised,” concluded an upbeat Mr Pepy. “And I truly believe there are some great projects and challenges ahead of us.”
by Lesley Brown
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