Senate backs French rail reform

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The French senate has adopted draft legislation which aims to re-establish cut ties between the country’s infrastructure manager and operator.

Under the new framework, SNCF will be split into SNCF Network – a merger of RFF, SNCF Infrastructure and traffic management body DCF – and SNCF Mobility, which will oversee passenger and freight operations.

By boosting cooperation between the three organisations, the French government hopes to improve network performance and reign in RFF’s rising debts, which currently grow by €1.5 billion each year.

The bill also strengthens the control of the regulatory authority of railway operations (ARAF), guaranteeing the free and non-discriminatory access to the network companies.

Senators voted 188 to 150 in favour of the bill on July 10.

In May, SNCF and RFF announced that they would need to spend €50 million modifying station platforms after discovering that a new fleet of regional trains were too big for many of the country’s older stations. RFF and SNCF blamed the error on the separation of the two organisations. Gauging data supplied didn’t take account of the stations built more than 30 years ago.

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