Behind every successful project, there is a strong support base.
Although invisible to the general public, rear bases are nevertheless at the heart of major railway construction projects. This is where everything that will subsequently happen on the track is prepared. It is also where, after each night of work, the materials extracted from the old track are processed.
At ETF, we see rear bases as places where logistics meets people: we coordinate flows, but we also pass on our expertise, train new generations and work together to create the conditions for performance.
In this new issue of ‘Aiguillage’, we take you behind the scenes to discover an essential part of our shipyards.
Because the efficiency of construction sites is determined upstream
On a railway construction site, success is not only determined at night when the teams spring into action. Upstream, the rear bases orchestrate everything: receiving materials, preparing convoys, maintaining machinery. These platforms determine the smooth running of the work and the ability to keep up with often very tight schedules.
On a daily basis, they bring together a wide variety of professions whose intense coactivity requires meticulous organisation. Everything must be anticipated because a train that is poorly prepared during the day means delayed work at night.
“Everything starts at the rear base. During the day, we prepare the industrial trains, maintain the equipment and load supplies. At night, the train has to go into production. If the base isn’t running, the site isn’t running. And if the site isn’t running, passengers are affected the next morning,” says Grégory Geslin, RGI agency manager, ETF.
At ETF, rear bases are designed to be true centres of operational excellence. The teams apply continuous improvement methods inspired by lean management. 5S for organising spaces, SMED for reducing preparation times, daily or weekly debriefing rituals… these are just some of the tools used to continuously adjust operations and involve all employees in improving the efficiency and performance of the back office.
Meeting with Saad Boukili,
Works Manager at the Verberie rear base (60), ETF
What do you think is the real secret to a successful home base?
“For me, it’s communication. If we don’t communicate, it doesn’t work. The success of a base isn’t just about trains leaving on time, it’s also about everyone knowing why and how they contribute to this result. To achieve this, all stakeholders need to communicate with each other: maintenance, logistics, production, etc. As soon as we really talk to each other, we find solutions and move forward. We’ve also put routines in place to better anticipate requests. Every morning, we have a five-minute meeting between production and the site to see if there have been any changes. At noon, we hold another meeting between the relevant parties at the base to monitor progress. And then we have set up a minute-by-minute schedule in the form of a Gantt chart: if a request comes in at the last minute, we track it and analyse the risk immediately. This allows us to know whether we can accept it or not.”
How is continuous improvement, which is so important to ETF, being implemented at Verberie?
“We hold awareness days and post messages around the base. The idea is to get everyone involved, not just management. Last week, for example, we picked a track layer and named him “layer of the week”. Why? Because he applied the 5S approach without being asked: he tidied up his workshop, kept track of equipment and put things in order. We shared this with everyone and it motivated the teams. It’s a concrete example that shows the message has got through.”
Our rear bases are fully committed to a circular economy approach through concrete actions to recycle and reduce our environmental footprint. This daily commitment has been recognised with the award of the VINCI environmental label on several of our construction sites.
Did you know?
Some bases continue to operate long after the end of construction: they become maintenance points for the long-term upkeep of lines or are used as freight platforms. This is the case, for example, with the Reding rear base, which was set up in 2013 for the construction of phase 2 of the LGV Est Européenne high-speed line, then refurbished in 2025 to accommodate a rapid industrialised follow-up construction project. This is a way of extending their strategic role and demonstrating that rail performance is built over the long term.
As the true logistical hubs, rear bases are also places of organisation and innovation, where every action counts to ensure that work trains depart on time and passengers can use their lines again in the morning. At ETF, we use this as a strategic asset to anticipate, improve and communicate.
