A joint agreement to improve the French railway network

On 25 May 2007, Anne-Marie Idrac, the president of the SNCF Group and Hubert du Mesnil, the President of Réseau Ferré de France, signed a new infrastructure management agreement to cover the financial years from 2007 to 2010 inclusive, for maintenance and upgrading of the French national railway network.

There are three concerned areas. Firstly, there is path plotting, of which an annual sum of approximately €32 million has been set aside for. Then operations, that is to say operational traffic management and traffic follow-up. An annual amount increasing from €794 million in 2007 to €861 million in 2010 will be dedicated to this area, which includes the safety and regularity assessment missions. Finally, the management agreement concerns the routine maintenance and major maintenance of railway facilities, for an amount decreasing from €1,890 million to €1,860 million over the term of the contract.

Redefining the roles

The purpose of this multi-annual management agreement is, above all else, to redefine the roles between RFF (French Rail Networks) and SNCF Infra (French Railways Infrastructure). The spirit of the relationship between RFF and SNCF Infrastructure in the area of infrastructure management is defined in this agreement. Indeed, it is a very specific relationship, without any equivalent in the industrial world and which needs a framework to succeed. Thus, the nature of the management delegation transferred by RFF to SNCF Infrastructure is clearly defined. This agreement determines the conditions under which this delegation is exercised, in particular the functional independence that it requires with respect to SNCF’s transport activities and the need for auditability of a certain number of management processes, which will effectively be audited by RFF.

The service and volume quality goals are clearly defined, as are the conditions for the acceptance of a certain number of services by RFF. As was the case in the past, SNCF Infrastructure is keeping full responsibility for operating safety, with a goal of maintaining safety at a level that is equivalent overall. Contrary to the previous agreement, payment by RFF depends on the effectively controlled accomplishment of certain services (major maintenance, other services with a long-term effect).

Reducing costs and observing the reality

In parallel, RFF is committed to a sum which has been negotiated taking into account certain assumptions such as the variation in the cost of the production factors, the level of renewal, the times open to service, the work time-slots, etc. Remuneration will be adjusted annually according to the deviations observed between the reality and these assumptions.

It can be seen that this agreement requires RFF to play a leading role as the principal that takes responsibility for its risks as owner and for the variations in the targets it may define. SNCF Infrastructure becomes a comprehensive operations and maintenance service provider that takes responsibility for the risks relative to exercising its activity. This represents an immense step forward compared with past practices.

Efforts and new obligations

SNCF Infrastructure sends RFF all the data relative to the condition of the infrastructures, the operations performed, the risks and costs. The two establishments are committed to in-depth dialogue on maintenance policies and on the high-level baselines that they refer to. RFF and SNCF Infrastructure define the Major Maintenance programme together. Reporting and consultation processes are being put in place. In the area of operations, SNCF Infrastructure undertakes to provide the required service, with specific productivity gains of 0.5%. It is also undertaking to identify an investment flow that is cost effective according to the RFF criteria, which will make it possible to reduce the operating costs by 1% per year. In the area of maintenance, SNCF Infrastructure undertakes to make real, ambitious productivity gains, making it possible to maintain an increasing volume of services throughout the whole 2007-2010 period, with upheld level of service quality in terms of reliability, regularity and comfort. The volume of routine maintenance must be maintained, but its cost must be lowered over the term of the agreement. This will only be possible if there is a radical change in working methods. The key point, providing the greatest savings, is the gradual elimination of short ‘track possessions’ spread over the year, to be replaced by working intervals of the order of four or six hours, spread over several weeks a year. This means the service will have to be adapted (train circulation) to those periods.

The best network for new opportunities

The remaining productivity gains will be obtained by more ‘conventional’ means – optimisation of the supervision rules, automation, mechanisation, etc.

Ultimately, this convention defines new reports which want to be close to ‘the best we can do’ in services of infrastructure management. The next stages will be the progress of the regional level relations and the improvement of information systems between the two establishments.

RFF is now ready to prepare the future of the French railway system – to be more and more open to a new economical model, for a better public service that is always in focus and for meeting new client demands.