French Rail Transport Giant SNCF Teams Up with Gurobi Optimization to Transform its End-to-End Rail Freight Operations

Beaverton, Ore – Gurobi Optimization, LLC today announced that SNCF – a global leader in passenger and freight transport services, which operates France’s rail network – will use the Gurobi Optimizer as the engine of its new, end-to-end freight train planning solution. With this integrated, automated planning platform powered by Gurobi’s industry-leading mathematical optimization solver, SNCF will be able to maximize resource utilization, minimize costs, and improve service quality and competitiveness – so that France’s national railway operator can help achieve the country’s goal of doubling the annual share of rail in overland freight volumes in the next 10 years.

SNCF is working together with the other members of the 4F Alliance – made up of rail freight operators, multimodal logistics companies, and domestic rail associations in France – to help reach the sustainable mobility targets set forth in the European Green Deal last year, which calls for a 90% reduction from greenhouse gas emissions in transport by 2050 and advocates a shift to rail and water as the preferred modes of freight transport. To support this goal, the 4F Alliance aims to increase the average annual market share of rail freight transport in France from its current level of 9-10% to 18% by 2030.

“To help double the market share of rail freight over the next decade and achieve the European Green Deal’s ambitious sustainable mobility targets, we at SNCF must digitally transform our railway supply chain to achieve the highest levels of efficiency and competitiveness. A key component of this digital transformation initiative is our new planning solution, which utilizes the state-of-the-art mathematical optimization solver, the Gurobi Optimizer, to automatically generate optimal, integrated train plans that reduce operating costs and improve resource utilization, service excellence, and profitability,” said Jean-Marie Pommier, CIO of Rail Freight & Intermodal Transport at SNCF.

This new, integrated freight train planning solution – which will be rolled out across SNCF’s operational network in France next year – will enable the rail transport giant to:

• Minimize fixed costs and boost service-level performance and customer satisfaction by optimizing the utilization of its resources including locomotives, railway cars, and specialized workers such as drivers.
• Reduce taxes and costs and offer more competitive prices to customers by optimizing the capacity of SNCF’s infrastructure network.
• Optimize customer orders and bookings by accurately forecasting future demand and deploying the right resources to meet that demand.

Duke Perrucci, Gurobi’s Chief Revenue Officer, commented: “We at Gurobi are proud to partner with France’s national railway operator SNCF to create an integrated, automated freight train planning solution that will help SNCF increase its rail freight market share and help the European Union achieve its sustainability targets. This project is an excellent example of how mathematical optimization technologies can have a profound and positive impact on the world we live in.”

Frédéric Baumann, Gurobi’s Director of Business Development for Western Europe, remarked: “We are thrilled that rail industry leader SNCF has selected Gurobi for this innovative and important initiative. This partnership marks a major milestone in Gurobi’s expansion in the French market.”

About Gurobi Optimization

Gurobi produces the world’s fastest and most powerful mathematical optimization solver – the Gurobi Optimizer – which is used by leading global companies across more than 40 different industries to rapidly solve their complex, real-world problems and make automated decisions that optimize their efficiency and profitability.

As the market leader in mathematical optimization software, we aim to deliver not only the best solver, but also the best support – so that companies can fully leverage the power of mathematical optimization (on its own or in combination with other AI techniques such as machine learning) to drive optimal business decisions and outcomes.

Founded in 2008, Gurobi has operations across the USA, Europe, and Asia and has more than 2,500 customers globally including SAP, Air France, Uber, and the National Football League (NFL). For more information, please visit Gurobi.com or call +1 713 871 9341.

Contact

Will Citrin
Gurobi Optimization, LLC
+1 248-509-1787
citrin@gurobi.com

About SNCF Group

 SNCF is a global leader in passenger and freight transport services, including management of the French rail network, with revenue of €35.1 billion in 2019, of which one-third on international markets. The Group does business in 120 countries and has 275,000 employees, with over half in its core rail business and 60,000 working outside France. The new SNCF, a public limited company that began operating on 1 January 2020, consists of a parent (SNCF) and five subsidiaries: SNCF Réseau (management, operation and maintenance of the French rail network, plus railway engineering) with its own subsidiary SNCF Gares & Connexions (station management and development); SNCF Voyageurs and its subsidiaries Transilien (mass transit in the Paris region), TER (regional rail), TGV INOUI, OUIGO and Intercités (long-distance rail), Eurostar, Thalys, Alleo and Lyria (international rail), and OUI.sncf (online ticket sales); Keolis (a global operator of urban, suburban and regional mass transit systems); SNCF Fret (rail freight); and Geodis (freight transport and logistics solutions). SNCF Group works closely with its customers – passengers, local authorities, shippers and railway operators using SNCF Réseau services – and with regional communities, building on its expertise in all aspects of rail and all types of transport to deliver simple, seamless, sustainable solutions for every mobility need. Learn more at sncf.com.

Contact
Press Office: +33 (0)1 85 07 89 89

To read the French version of this press release, click here.