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Strategy
Today Fret SNCF is a leading goods carrier in Europe and plays a vital role in the development of rail freight transport, encouraged by French and European authorities.
To realize its full potential and ambitions against a background of market liberalization, Fret SNCF began a major transformation project in 2001. Placing the client at the centre of our strategy involves moving from an approach centred on production and means, to an approach emphasizing service and results.
| Simplifying and industrializing production |
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With 1,300 freight trains running daily, the objective is to rationalize productivity to decrease costs and provide the best possible service to clients.
In order to respond flexibly, comprehensively and efficiently to client expectations, Fret SNCF has adopted a two-tiered structure:
The “trunk routes”:
The equivalent of “major freight itineraries,” to improve service over long distances,
The “local zones”:
The “local zones” whose mission is to group and despatch wagons. In order to best meet client needs, these zones have been organized as autonomous units in terms of their transport plans and operational means, and they benefit from their own dedicated resources. This emphasis on a local structure, closer to clients and attentive to their needs, aims to provide the flexibility and rapid response they expect.
| Improving the quality of service |
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Improving service quality is a top priority centring on two aspects: service contracts, and client service.
Service contracts
Fret SNCF gives priority to formalizing its commitments through contracts according to the specific needs of each client.
Service contracts set forth reciprocal agreements over a multi-year period. Fret SNCF makes a commitment in terms of the level of service quality, while the client commits to certain volumes of goods and conditions for the collection of goods to be carried. Quality indicators are used to measure progress.
Client support
Fret SNCF has also set up a client support department, currently available for automobile carriage, and which will soon be implemented across all sectors.
This service provides clients with a one-to-one relationship in which a representative will seek comprehensive solutions for end-to-end shipping, with commitment to delivery dates and reassignment of new dates in case of a problem.
| Developing European traffic |
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The objective for 2010 is to increase international traffic to 75%. To reach this goal, Fret SNCF has chosen a dual approach:
 Cooperation with other European rail companies to eliminate technical barriers which impede the development of traffic. For the moment, from one European country to another, differences exist in electrical current, signalization systems, safety and even the gauge of the tracks. Reinforcing cooperation means coordinating the information systems between rail companies to establish products in common.
Reinforcement of its commercial presence in Europe.
The freight branch of the SNCF group aspires to being a logistics operator on a European scale, as is STVA in the automobile transport market, Ermechem in chemicals, and CTC and Logistra in cereals.
Liberalizing the freight market – what does that mean?
The first so-called “railway package” involves opening the railway networks of the 15 member states of the European Union to competition.
Since March 15, 2003, operators other than the “traditional” ones such as SNCF, have offered international freight transport services.
Initially, this concerns the 50,000km of Trans European Railway Freight Network track, and will later be extended to the entire European network in 2008.
In order to operate in French territory, new companies must obtain a railway license from the government, and a safety certificate. This certificate is issued by the RFF (French rail network authority) based on a technical report established by SNCF. RFF, which has created a special organization with some thirty employees, is responsible for the management of available train paths.* This includes 25 part-time SNCF employees.
The Ministry of Transport is in charge of regulations, in collaboration with a railway inspectorate made up of members of the Conseil d’Etat, the Cour des Comptes and the general council of Ponts et Chaussées.
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