The first contract covers the replacement of track equipment for the Atlantique, Nord and Sud‑Est high-speed lines. The fixed tranche will run for four years (2025 to 2028) with an option for two additional years in 2029 and 2030.
Between 2025 and 2028, 49 track equipment will be replaced at weekends with all rail traffic suspended, requiring huge commitments of equipment and human resources – over a hundred workers per shift.
 
The second contract concerns the renovation of conventional tracks using industrial methods, across the entire national rail network. The firm tranche will run for three years (2025 to 2027) with an option for three additional years (2028 to 2030).
Between 2025 and 2027, 524 kilometres of track will be renovated across the country. Work will mostly take place at night, with around 400 employees from the two companies operating Eiffage Rail’s factory-trains and Captrain’s traction equipment. These high-performance machines can renovate the rails, ballast and sleepers for approximately 1,000 metres of track per shift, also ensuring that the line can be reopened to commercial rail traffic at the end of each shift.
 
For this second contract, various innovations will be introduced to promote recycling and reduce the operation’s carbon footprint. For example, rail and sleeper panels will be cut up and reused on site, and from 2027 onward, hydrogen production and storage equipment will allow the locomotives to operate in hybrid electric/hydrogen mode.
 
As SNCF Réseau commits massive resources to renovating the French rail network, these two contracts consolidate Eiffage Rail’s and Captrain’s position at the centre of the country’s industrial rail sector.

Read the press release