page_title: Rail transport in France
section_title: Subsidies
hierarchical_section_title: Rail transport in France / Subsidies
caption_attribution_description: English: Subsidy per passenger journey for UK, Italy, Germany, Spain and France (in Euros)
context_page_description: Rail transport in France is marked by a clear predominance of passenger traffic, driven in particular by high-speed rail. The SNCF, the national state-owned railway company, operates most of the passenger and freight services on the national network managed by its subsidiary SNCF Réseau. France currently operates the second-largest European railway network, with a total of 29,901 kilometres of railway.
  The first rail line in the country opened in 1827 from Saint-Étienne to Andrézieux. The network has undergone a major modernization since 1981 with the arrival of the TGV high-speed rail service which has been consistently expanded in subsequent years.
  In 2017, there were 1.762 billion journeys on the French national rail network, among which 1.270 billion on SNCF services and 493 million on RATP sections of the RER, the express regional network operating in the Paris area which is shared between both companies. The Paris suburban rail services represents alone 82% of the French rail annual ridership.
  With a total of 100.2 billion passenger-kilometres, France has the fifth-most used passenger network worldwide, and second-most used in Europe after that of Russia.
context_section_description: Like roads, the French railways receive rail subsidies from the state in order to operate. Those amounted to €13.2 billion in 2013.
caption: Subsidy per passenger journey for UK, Germany, Spain, Italy and France in Euros
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