Ville, Rail & Transports :  Is it possible to evaluate the impact of the New Greater Paris project  in terms of job-creation opportunities for the rail sector ?

Jean-Pierre Audoux : Jointly with the Greater Paris  Sponsoring Authorities, we have examined the main future infrastructure schemes and the corresponding  delivery timeframes very closely. This investment effort is expected to translate into an annual turnover of some € 600 million.

In terms of workload and employment, we reckon that anything up to 3 000 infrastructure-related sustainable permanent jobs will be needed each year, and as many again for rolling stock and signalling. These manpower needs will be staggered over some fifteen years. On the infrastructure side, half these jobs will be concerned with track-laying and the rest with  so-called "pure"  industrial activities (rails, sleepers,...).

We also believe that the 'Greater Paris' effect will serve as an excellent shopwindow for exporting our know-how and expertise in the urban and outer-suburban transit fields. However, the possible spinoffs are difficult to quantify.

Ville, Rail & Transports : More globally speaking, does the French domestic market hold any growth prospects in your opinion ?

Jean-Pierre Audoux :  Up until 2011, even 2012 I dare say , we experienced peak activities on the French domestic  market in the rolling-stock field, while exports underperformed.

The situation on the infrastructure front was more uneven, but we are currently witnessing a gradual pick-up in network rehabilitation activities.

Yet this rather rosy picture  is somewhat overshadowed  by two  developments . Firstly, the increasingly fierce competition waged by overseas operators on  the French market and, beyond, on all markets. Next, despite the size of the investment  package unveiled, results on the ground invariably never match initial expectations, which means we will probably  experience workforce stabilisation in our sector on the home front. The truth of the matter  is that years of intensive recruitment by our companies could well be followed by  workforce-contraction measures made necessary by slack periods generally inherent in delivery cycles. This is what we expect to happen in the rolling-stock field, unlike in the infrastructure sector where activities are expected to remain quite buoyant.

Ville, Rail & Transports : And what of the longer-term prospects?

Jean-Pierre Audoux : We should differentiate between the "short-medium" term , where after  extremely poor 2013 results, the outlook for the 2015-2016 period is distinctly more promising. Where the longer term is concerned - in other words post-2018 - we simply are in the dark.  As regards  TER rolling stock, for example, the order books are nowhere near what we were initially given to expect  The talk in 2009 was all  about a procurement programme involving some  1860   trainsets ,  yet fewer  than 300 units were  actually ordered.

Might not the same fate await the  TET (Inter-Regional) train replacement programme? True,  a first package worth  € 600 million has been announced but what will happen next? We simply are unable to project over ten years even though the needs are known to be massive....

Question  also abound over the future of high-speed rail in France, and we simply have no inkling of what will happen to the high-speed rail manufacturing sector post-2018.  Similarly, issues pertaining to the relaunch of the rail-freight business need addressing......All of which of course adds-up to multiple question marks. Yet lurking behind these announcements is the realisation that our sector in its globality has acquired a strategic dimension. A reassuring development indeed!