2023-11-30 17:15:00
The train may be more environmentally friendly, but one thing is certain: it is not cheap for taxpayers! According to Fipeco, an information site specializing in public finances, “the total cost of SNCF for taxpayers – households and businesses – was 20 billion euros in 2022”. An amount up by 1.5 billion compared to 2021. And a level of annual expenditure which, inevitably, questions François Ecalle, the author of the note. “Are we sure that this money is well used?”asks the former magistrate of the Court of Auditors.
To understand why the cost of the SNCF is so exorbitant for the French, François Ecalle delved into the Annual Transport Report, a statistical report published each year by the Ministry of Ecological Transition. It appears that to operate, the French National Railway Company receives subsidies. The regional transport organizing authorities, the Regions and Île-de-France Mobilités, pay the railway company 3.5 billion euros and 3.3 billion euros per year respectively. These “Operating grants” therefore reached 6.8 billion euros in 2022. In addition, the State covers operating costs of 3.3 billion euros annually. “The operating costs of the SNCF borne by taxpayers amount to a total of 10.1 billion euros in 2022, mainly for the TER and Transilien”specifies the note.
6.2 billion euros from the State and Regions for investments
That’s how it works, now let’s move on to investments. Here once more, the State and the Regions are putting their hands in their pockets to give the SNCF the means to invest and develop: 1.9 billion euros were spent last year for the purchase of new train sets, 2.1 billion for the “grid regeneration”… In total, no less than 6.2 billion euros in investment subsidies were received by the SNCF in 2022.
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In addition to these investment subsidies, there are also debt interest charges paid by the State: 800 million euros last year! Remember that since 2007, the State has taken over no less than 43 billion euros of the company’s debt. Fruitful debt “an accumulation of loss-making results and investments financed by debt”, according to François Ecalle. And a debt which, despite everything, is still around 25 billion euros today.
The weight of the special pension plan for railway workers
Finally, despite the cessation of the hiring of railway workers on January 1, 2020, the State must still finance the special Social Security scheme for rail workers who have already retired. According to the Fipeco note, “the State awards the scheme a balancing subsidy which was 3.2 billion euros in 2022 and represented 60% of pensions paid (5.3 billion euros)”. In total, the SNCF costs taxpayers 20 billion euros per year. An amount that can be explained “partly by inflation”according to François Ecalle.
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