Fact or fiction? “Anyone can work for SNCF”

There are over 150 distinct professions at SNCF, and all demand exceptional expertise to ensure the highest safety standards. We encourage our employees to continue training throughout their career to keep their skills sharp.

“SNCF employee”: a title encompassing 150 professions

163,000 SNCF employees work in 150 different professions. They drive trains, perform maintenance and engineering work, and deal with customers. The stakes are high—safety, on-time performance, passenger information—which makes attracting quality recruits a top priority.

Rigorous recruiting process

Each SNCF profession requires specific skills, and our recruiting process is rigorous and selective. We send new recruits to our railway training centres to prepare them for a variety of jobs: driver, conductor and switch operator; rolling stock, track and catenary maintenance worker; security officer; and much more.

  • 9,000

    recruits for permanent positions in 2023 (17,300 Group-wide)

  • 8,200

    work-study participants

  • 9%

    of total payroll devoted to training each year

Never stop learning

SNCF devotes 9% of its total payroll to training each year. As a result, rail operations employees continue to build skills and grow throughout their careers.