en.Wedoany.com Reported - French National Railway Company (SNCF) is extending the use of composite materials from traditional applications such as cladding and fairings to more assets, including structural components and station infrastructure. This transformation is driven by the Mechanical Systems and Interaction (SMI) team under the Group's Technology, Innovation, and Projects Division (DTIPG), which works closely with operational departments and academic partners.

Within SNCF's Railway Systems Physics Department, the Innovative Materials and Processes Group is developing next-generation railway materials, aiming to provide lighter and more energy-efficient solutions. The team adopts a pragmatic approach: in about 90% of cases, engineers directly use commercially available materials; only when highly promising technologies emerge do they collaborate with suppliers to develop customized solutions. Leveraging decades of operational experience, SNCF's material strategy is consistently shaped around the practical challenges of modern railway network operation and maintenance.

In March 2022, a French high-speed train (TGV) traveling from Paris to Hendaye at full speed struck a deer, yet the nose fairing remained intact. This incident provided a real-world test for a project launched in 2019 by Tanguy Choupin, then head of SNCF's Innovative Materials and Processes project (now at Expliseat). He proposed replacing the original nose fairing with composite materials used in the aerospace industry.