Just another gimmick?

The way the rail industrial sector is organised is simply flawed, which is why  Bruno Angles advocates pursuing a dynamic course involving the creation of a proactive  French railway cooperation structure: “Fer de France”, which would federate under the same roof stakeholders including industrial firms, public-works contractors, sponsoring authorities, transport operators and infrastructure managers. This approach has now been endorsed by the Transport Minister, and even as the final touches are being put to this edition of our Journal (deadline 15 February), we eagerly await the name of the Commission’s President, who logically should brief us on the workings of “Fer de France”. The magazine “Challenges” recently put-out the names of a few retired or soon-to-retire top executives (Louis Gallois, Denis Ranque, Jean-François Dehecq). The French Railway Industries Association (FIF), through its Delegate-General Jean-Pierre Audoux, has underscored the major contribution made by the sector to the national economy and drives the point home by arguing that the proposed new structure is acceptable to the Association providing “Fer de France” confirms the organisational work on the sector being undertaken in conjunction with the FIF. The model adopted for the Grouping of French aerospace and space industries (Gifas) has of course been discussed but, as pointed out by Jean-Pierre Audoux, the railway industrial sector is clearly not mature or ready enough to follow the same organisational model. Whilst the approach  adopted by the Association remains cautious, other stakeholders by contrast clearly view the creation of this commission as nothing but a waste of time and money…Can anyone prove them otherwise?    !