Paris, France – Work to renew France’s national rail network is part of the plan made public on May 22nd 2006 by Dominique Perben, the country’s Minister for Transport, Infrastructure, Tourism and the Sea. The renewal programme will be made possible thanks to a significant increase in financial contributions, in line with the priority that the public authorities have accorded rail transport.

The renewal programme aims to main a high level of safety in all locations and at all times, and targets several key objectives:

• improve the quality of service for both passengers and train operators;
• bring network property "up to speed" in order to optimise operating conditions;
• modernise maintenance methods and control maintenance costs.

The renewal work will notably be financed by an increase in the Government’s renewal grant
and thanks to financial assistance from France’s transport infrastructure funding agency, the
AFITF.

980 million euros (compared to 945 million in 2006) will be invested in the renewal work
itself. On top of that, in 2007 a total of 100 million euros will be spent on upgrading
programmes to bring the network up to standard (elimination of level crossings,
initiatives to improve access for the mobility-impaired, measures aimed at protecting the
environment, etc).

In the course of 2007, a further 90 million euros (compared to 40 million in 2006) will also
be invested in general inspection operations.

That means that an overall total of 1.18 billion euros will be invested in the French rail
network’s renewal programme in 2007, compared to 1.081 billion euros in 2006.

View Appendix 1: breakdown of investments (renewal work, upgrading programmes and general inspection operations) and Appendix 2: map of renewal work scheduled for 2007 at www.rff.fr