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Know-how for innovation
Fret SNCF draws on important resources for innovation. The objective is both to improve equipment and to implant technologies, in order to facilitate the processing and monitoring of orders.
| Equipment: unprecedented investment |
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Investment in equipment will total 1.22 billion euros for the 1999-2006 period.
Locomotives
 Fret SNCF has over 2,200 locomotives. To renew this rolling stock and give the freight division resources for growth, 604 new locomotives have been ordered for delivery by 2006:
 60 type 36 000 interoperable locomotives able to run in Belgium and Italy,
420 type 27 000, 37 000 and 37 500 locomotives specially designed for freight, to provide cross border service to Germany and Switzerland,
124 diesels for terminal runs and non-electrified runs.
Nearly 130 new locomotives were delivered at the end of 2002 plus 24 rented diesel locomotives (Voslo 61 000 type).
When this equipment renewal plan is complete, Fret SNCF will have a more available fleet of cleaner locomotives, better adapted to client needs.
Wagons
The SNCF group is also renewing its rolling stock of wagons: in 2001-2002, more than 6,000 wagons were purchased or overhauled.
| Technological innovation |
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Information systems
Fret SNCF is investing to replace its entire
information system so that it will provide
efficient support for commercial relations. All operations will be computerized,
from order-taking to
invoicing.
The information system deployed for automobile transport will be extended to chemicals and the steel industry in 2003, and then to all block loads by 2005.
This system, which is currently national, will be offered to other rail companies so that it can be extended to international traffic.
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The Alpine rail motorway
The Modalohr wagon
Establishing an alpine rail motorway provided an opportunity for a key wagon innovation. Modalohr specially designed a wagon with two major advantages:
- A lowered platform to load complete articulated rigs or trailers measuring up to 4 metres in height (90% of the road fleet in size B1);
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- A shell which pivots to the side to considerably facilitate loading: lorries can rapidly be loaded and unloaded from the train, unlike the single-file loading method.
Platforms
Innovations in trans-shipment yards in France and Italy result in rapid, simplified loading and unloading operations.
GPS/GSM beacons
To improve the tracking of trains, Fret SNCF has equipped its locomotives with GPS/GSM beacons. By the summer of 2003, all of its 2,200 locomotives will be equipped.
Heavy trains
Fret SNCF is innovating to deploy wagons able to carry large volumes, up to 3,600 tonnes of gross weight.
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