Training rail maintenance teams for the future
With SNCF Voyageurs’ state-of-the-art UDM campus in Le Mans, SNCF Group now offers training programmes that keep pace with changes in rolling stock and customer expectations—helping it stay ahead in a competitive market.
Opened on 30 September 2026, SNCF Voyageurs’ new UDM campus in Le Mans can train up to 9,000 people a year. The facilities were developed by S2FIT, a subsidiary of SNCF Immobilier. While construction was underway, a comprehensive overhaul of existing rail maintenance training programmes began in 2023. The goal: equip maintenance teams with the skills they need to work on new generations of trains and respond to the demands of a rail market opening up to competition.
Why the change, and why now?
The new campus aims to meet three key challenges:
- Prepare teams to maintain new rolling stock, including the RER NG
- Equip new recruits and employees retraining for different roles with the skills they need to work with emerging technologies, from fibre optics to hydrogen-powered trains
- Support dedicated companies as the market opens up to competition, as well as SNCF Group subsidiaries and companies such as Keolis, Hexafret and Technis, through SNCF Voyageurs subsidiary MASTERIS
Training dedicated companies s: the example of SNCF Sud Azur
The new UDM campus is training maintenance staff at SNCF Sud Azur, which won the contract to operate rail services in and around Nice, on France’s Mediterranean coast. Around 75% of this company’s maintenance workforce previously worked for SNCF and are now reskilling to maintain new types of rolling stock. The rest are new recruits learning the job from scratch.
New approaches to learning
UDM’s new campus is the culmination of a transformation in rail maintenance training that began in September 2023. Innovations include:
- Training programmes tailored to specific types of rolling stock
- Assessments at different stages to validate skills
- Hands-on exercises in workshops that replicate real-life conditions at SNCF maintenance facilities
- Training modules delivered off-site, close to maintenance facilities
Learning to paint trains using virtual reality
The campus uses virtual reality to teach the practical skills involved in painting rolling stock. This technology makes training easier to organize by reducing the need for physical paint booths, already in high demand. It also cuts paint waste.
Fast facts
Up to
9,000
trainees each year
€33.8m
invested, including a 10% contribution from Le Mans Métropole
1,103 sq m
of workshop space, including welding and maintenance shops
Strong local ties, better career prospects
UDM’s new campus works with local institutions and industry partners to share its teaching expertise and tackle key challenges in recruitment, staff retention and industrial competitiveness. Its institutional partners include Le Mans Métropole, the Departmental Directorate for Employment, Labour and Solidarity, the Campus des Métiers et des Qualifications at Lycée Le Mans Sud, and ISMANS CESI engineering school.
It also collaborates with technical and vocational secondary schools to develop rail-specific programmes for the 2026–2027 academic year. Designed to complement existing courses, these will help students develop skills for careers in sustainable mobility.
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