ETF is taking action to ensure continuity of service
Maintenance of the rail network is essential for its operation and the smooth flow of goods and people. Even when traffic is significantly reduced, maintaining track geometry, reinforcing ballast pads, replacing half-fittings on track switches and crossings, and incorporating track switches and crossings are examples of work that is essential to keeping the network in good condition. Failure to carry out this work would result in the implementation of temporary speed restrictions, which are currently very disruptive and will continue to be so when traffic resumes in the coming weeks.
‘The health and safety of all our employees is our top priority.’ This motto, which we already apply on all our construction sites, takes on even greater meaning during this pandemic. All ETF teams have been working since the beginning of the lockdown to define and implement preventive measures. New working methods, complying with protective measures, have been devised and developed. They enable us to carry out emergency work while taking into account all the constraints associated with COVID-19.
This resumption of activity has been the subject of extensive preparation, applying the recommendations of the OPPBTP (French Professional Organisation for Prevention in the Construction Industry), reinforced by around fifty specific instructions. The specific operating procedures and general measures taken by ETF have been shared with the teams and staff representatives. Feedback is collected each week from all project stakeholders (teams, staff representatives, SNCF client), enabling us to continuously improve all our operating procedures.
At the national level, ETF is involved in two projects considered to be of national emergency by the Ministry of Transport. These include:
- The refurbishment of the LGV Est high-speed line
- The reopening of the POLT line (Paris-Orléans-Limoges-Toulouse) following a landslide in Nouan-le-Fuzelier (Loir-et-Cher)
Numerous projects are gradually resuming in the regions on behalf of public and private actors as part of the maintenance of priority economic activities:
- Renewal of 1/2 switch at Orly
- Liberation at Sucy-en-Brie
- Replacement of coupons and liberations at Tonnerre
- Replacement of 1/2 fittings at Gare de Lyon
- Replacement of rail sections and incorporations in Achères
- Incorporations in Noisy, Achères and Gare de Lyon
- Replacement of sleepers in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges
- Maintenance of the Nantes tram network
- Replacement of X rail sections and consolidation of fastenings on the Vichy-Riom construction site
- Work on ITE to maintain food transport
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