Opening up Regional Passenger Railway Services (SRV) to competition

On top of direct employment and the business it generates, rail transport is an asset for France not only in terms of the accessibility of the regions and the mobility of the populace, but also in social and environmental terms, and as an industrial sector in its own right. Within the framework of the progressive liberalisation of the rail sector undertaken by the European Union, the government has made a referenceto the ESEC in respect of the opening up of regional passenger railway services to competition, in particular in terms of the geographic scope, the ownership of rolling stock, contractual relationships between the region and the operator and the social dimension of this process.