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SNCF

The current SNCF logo.

SNCF or Société Nationale des Chemins de fer français, which means: "National Corporation of French Railways", (or French National Railways) is the national state-owned railway company of France. As the operator of France's rail services, SNCF also operates the TGV.

History[]

SNCF was established in 1938, and the French government only owned 51% of the company; now it is 100% owned by the French government.

During World War 2, (1941–1944; was the time France was occupied by the Axis), SNCF transported nearly 77,000 Jews, and other victims of the Holocaust, to the Nazi death camps. Since then, SNCF has been sued by family members of Holocaust victims, but currently, SNCF hasn't been found guilty of aiding in deportations, because the company argues that it isn't liable for it actions during the time that France was occupied by the Axis. It was only in 2010 that the SNCF expressed regret for its role in the Holocaust. Some have said that this is due to the lucrative market for high-speed rail in the United States of America.

California has even passed a bill for all companies bidding on California rail projects to disclose their involvement in transporting Holocaust victims. On the 25 of January 2011 the president of the SNCF Guillaume Pepy expressed his company's first formal public apology directly to victims of the Holocaust.

In addition, the SNCF donated to the French Shoah Memory Foundation a 3.5 acre of field near a train station from which some Holocaust victims were transported to Nazi camps.

Today[]

SNCF employs more than 180,000 people in 120 countries across the globe. The SNCF has a rail network of about 32,000 km (20,000 mi), of which 1,800 km (1,100 mi) are high-speed lines. About 14,000 trains are operated daily on the SNCF network. As of 2010 the SNCF was the No. 214 out of the 500 top companies, based on revenue. Also SNCF has introduced carbon free travel with no extra cost to commuters.

References[]

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