In
recent years, the French State Railway Group (SNCF) has successively launched
future-oriented scientific and technological development planning and research
projects such as "Digital French Railway" project, TECH4RAIL's future
development vision, SNCF Group's strategic plan "Common French
Railway" in 2030, and "Research4Future" plan, which describe the
future development goals and key tasks of the company. Among them, the research
and development directions related to rolling stock mainly include
digitalization of rolling stock, digitalization of repairable parts, automatic
train driving, intelligent analysis and prediction, rapid repair and
replacement of parts by 3D printing, and manufacturing large and complex parts
by composite materials.
In 2015,
the French state-owned railway group launched the "# DIGITALSNCF"
project. The project plans to rely on industrial Internet means, on the basis
of using target-specific communication networks, data clouds, various sensors
and other equipment and tools, supplemented by the business processing of
staff. The three major areas of trains, road networks and station buildings are
connected by networks to form connected equipment, connected trains, connected
road networks and connected stations.
Among
them, "connected equipment" and "connected trains" put
forward the development direction of locomotives and rolling stock in the
future. First, sensors should be deployed on operating trains to collect data,
and the collected train data should be intelligently analyzed by computers; The
second is to realize the digitalization of locomotives and rolling stock,
maintainable parts and information flow.
(2) Future development vision of TECH4RAIL
In 2016,
in order to improve performance, safety and reliability, improve customer
service and make the railway system more competitive through technological
innovation, France Railway put forward the future development vision of
TECH4RAIL, which will be comprehensively laid out in three aspects: general
trend, technological breakthrough and new business model, so as to gain
opportunities in the future mobile transportation competition. French Railway
TECH4RAIL divides the railway development promotion model into three stages: by
2020, the existing railway system will be improved, focusing on autonomous
driving and 3D printing; From 2021 to 2030, build a disruptive and innovative
railway system; From 2031 to 2040, a competitive, convenient and sustainable railway
system will be established for railway customers, which will be closely
integrated with future transportation.
France
Iron TECH4RAIL will eventually achieve five major goals: First,
customer-centered system. Interconnect customer needs in real time to provide
services that meet expectations, are reliable, safe and easy to access; Second,
a competitive system. Reduce costs and maximize the utilization rate of the
whole inventory of the railway system; The third is a simplified and
standardized system. Enhance the mobility of components and shorten the
application time of new technologies; Fourth, a sustainable and responsive
system. By optimizing resource utilization and limiting carbon emissions, we
can meet the requirements of social public services; Fifth, the system
integrated with future mobility. Incorporate the railway system into global
door-to-door services, and transform stations into integrated services and
various mobility stations.
(3) SNCF Group Strategic Plan "Common
French Railway" in 2030
On
October 8, 2020, the Board of Directors of French State Railway Group (SNCF)
released the strategic plan "Tous SNCF" (Common French Railway) for
2030. The plan establishes two development pillars of SNCF Group: First, help
the French economy recover and promote regional coordinated development;
Second, strive to achieve financial goals and ensure the Group's ability to
resist risks and the sustainability of its operations. The plan is based on the
national support plan for railways, with railway business as the core and
French business as the main body, and will build SNCF into a leader in the
field of sustainable passenger and freight transportation in 2030.
The plan
defines four important tasks: human resources, environmental protection,
innovation and digitalization, and scale development. In terms of innovation
and digitalization, it is proposed to further play the important role of big
data in predictive maintenance and automatic trains.
In order
to give full play to the potential of innovative technologies to lead the
development of railway industry, SNCF launched the "Research4Future"
program in 2022, which aims to apply interdisciplinary technologies to enhance
the competitiveness of railways in various fields such as reliability, economic
cost and energy efficiency. The main research fields are: artificial
intelligence, robotics, innovative materials, engineering methods, network
security, railway system physics, 3D printing, decision science and cognitive
science.
