Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer français: the French national railway system.
SNCF (Société National des Chemins de Fer français) is the state-owned company that operates most of French france railways and some regional buses.
The French passenger rail operations are divided in several groups, including:
- Long-distance trains: TGV (trains à grande vitesse), the French high-speed trains;
- Intercités, medium- and long-distance “normal-speed” trains;
- TER, the regional trains, managed in cooperation with each regional administration;
- Transilien and RER, which form Paris's paris suburban rail network;
- freight, infrastructure and stations divisions.
Some international trains are operated or cooperated by SNCF or a subsidiary:
- Eurostar, the trains that connect Great Britain great-britain uk england with France (and on to Belgium and Germany) through the Channel Tunnel;
- Thalys, high-speed trains to the north to Belgium belgium, the Netherlands netherlands and north-western Germany germany;
- TGV-Lyria, high-speed trains to Switzerland switzerland.
