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French Excellence in Very High Speed Rail Transport Programme
Devised jointly by Réseau Ferré de France, Alstom and SNCF, the “French Excellence in Very High Speed Rail Transport Programme” aims to define the role of high speed transport for the coming years and will enable France to maintain its position as the world market leader in very high speed rail transport.
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A wide-ranging programme for 2020-2050
2007 marks the launch of the “French Excellence in Very High Speed Rail Transport Programme”. Within the framework of the technical studies, Alstom and its two partners, Réseau Ferré de France and the SNCF, will pool their expertise to examine :
- Ways of improving the performance of the French railway system. Its future passengers are central to this approach whose aim is to retain for the long term France’s position as the world market leader in the very high speed rail transport market
. - A forward-looking programme which will focus on defining the role of high speed transport in the 2020-2050 period..
Four key priorities to maintain a leadership position
The “French Excellence in Very High Speed Rail Transport Programme” is based on the complementary expertise of its three partners and on four fundamental priorities for serving customers: Environment, Safety & Performance, The On-Board Experience & New Services, and Travel Time.
- The environment: the programme will look at reducing energy consumption, vibrations and internal and external noise as well as the recyclability of materials, etc. It will also support the integration of new railway lines into the surrounding landscape, track-laying techniques and performance studies into the behaviour of ballast under traffic.
. - Safety & performance: the programme will focus on optimising safety on a daily basis through improvements in reliability, braking, the deployment of on-board video surveillance systems, new types of catenaries and trackside safety. The three partners have decided to explore a number of technical innovations for both tracks and trains.
. - The on-board experience & new services: to anticipate passenger needs and provide solutions which are both innovative and beneficial. To do so, the three partners will develop new services, promoting, for example, high speed/capacity data transmission between the trains and the ground; improved accessibility and an optimised use of space. In addition to new interior and exterior designs, there will be higher standards of comfort, innovative fibre-optic lighting solutions, etc. The customer is at the heart of this approach, and making his or her on-board experience more pleasurable is our main goal.
. - Travel time: the three partners will also examine aspects of city and regional planning with an aim to shortening distances. The very high speed system will provide regional restructuring, develop the rail transport network and re-draw maps in France and Europe. In addition to improving the regularity and punctuality of trains, the programme will also study ways to increase traffic, while improving interoperability and traffic flow in the years to come.
French technology has already earned worldwide recognition thanks to the 2 billion kilometres already travelled by TGV™(1) trains (or the equivalent of circumnavigating the world 50,000 times) and 1.2 billion passengers who have travelled on a TGV™ in France and Europe. The very high speed train of the future, AGV™ (Automotrice à Grande Vitesse) developed by Alstom, will play a large part in maintaining this leadership.
(1) TGV™ is an SNCF trademark
09 March 2007