Franske Jernbaner

  Stemningsbillede fra Bolviller - juni 1999 - Kai W. Mosgaard ©

SNCF (Société Nationale des Chemins de fer Français) (French National Railway Company) is a French public enterprise. Its functions include operation of rail services for passengers and freight, and maintenance as well as signalling of rail infrastructure owned by RFF (Réseau Ferré de France). It employs about 180,000 people. The rail network consists of about 32,000 km of route, of which 1,800 km is high-speed line and 14,500 km is electrified. About 14,000 trains are operated daily. The chairman of SNCF is Guillaume Pépy. Its headquarters is in Paris, in the Rue du Commandant Mouchotte.

There is a total of 31,939 kilometres (31,840 km are operated by French national company) of railway in France.

• 31,840 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in)
• 99 km 1m narrow gauge (1998)

Trains, unlike road traffic, drive on the left (except in Alsace-Moselle). Metro and tramway services are not considered trains and thus generally follow road traffic in driving on the right (except the Lyon Metro).

France has railway links with all adjacent countries, with the exception of Andorra. The connection with Spain involves a break-of-gauge.

There are also a number of metro services operating in France.

• Paris Métro, operated by the RATP (Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens) and the RER
• Laon, Poma 2000
• Lille Metro, VAL (Véhicule Automatique Léger, "Light Automatic Vehicle"), operated by Transpole.
• Lyon Metro
• Marseille Metro, operated by the RTM (Régie des Transports de Marseille)
• Rennes Metro, VAL
• Toulouse Metro, VAL (kilde: Wikipedia)