In search of solutions to the railway-equipment funding issue (Transport Public - June 2012 pp. 22-23)

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FIF-VDB joint declaration The plea for a level playing field

According to their joint declaration of 12 July 2010 the VDB and FIF, alive to the importance of guaranteeing a level playing field for international competition in the railway industry sector, incited the application of the principle of reciprocity in the railway rolling-stock transport field concerning the opening-up of public markets.

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“The way the industrial sector is managed is primarily the business of its leaders» - (Ville Rail & Transports – 14/12/2011 – p. 54)

Interview with   Louis Nègre, Vice-Chairman of the Strategic Committee for the Railway Industrial Sector and    Chairman   of the French Railway Industries Association (FIF) 

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How to escape from dependence on “mother-hen” SNCF: - (Le Rail – Octobre 2011 – p. 28 à p. 31)

June 2011 saw the publication of a very detailed report entitled « Rouvrir la voie : une industrie d’avenir pour la France, un atout pour l’Europe[i] » (Re-opening the line to secure a future for the French railway industrial sector, an asset for Europe). This is a sector responsible for building trains, tramways and metros, but one marked by extreme concentration over the past thirty years, with Alstom (France) and Bombardier (Canada) absorbing a number of well-established French MSEs (medium-size enterprises) in the sector.

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SNCF, RFF: reform or face decline (Les Echos -20/07/2011 p. 20)

Gone are the days when TGV and TER success more than compensated for rail freight losses. These three sectors, in different ways, face fresh challenges which call for a new approach.

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