Your train journey starts and ends at a station... But what about getting there? And your onward journey? The SNCF is inventing innovative door-to-door travel solutions, connecting to your train.

The dream - getting from home to the station and from the station to your destination in the most environmentally-friendly way possible. The SNCF wants to offer its customers, travellers and logistics clients "green" transport for the whole of their journey. We're coming up with a whole range of services including innovative ideas like self-service car rental, car sharing (head to the station with your neighbour in a shared car) or green taxis, and new modes of transport like the electric car or the electric bike. For freight transport, the whole world of urban logistics needs to be explored. To make it easier to switch between different modes of transport, we need to invent multi-modal interchanges offering real-time information to travellers, and provide a single ticketing system for the whole journey.

The reality - this is what Ecomobility is all about and it requires hard work and innovation. The SNCF is turning to creative start-ups to get ideas going more quickly and is creating the first fund of its kind in Europe - Ecomobilité Partenaires. This investment fund has received €15 million from the SNCF to offer long-term support to young, growing businesses. It invests between €1 and €2 million in these businesses, and becomes a minority shareholder. The Fund was created at the end of 2008, and aims to find around ten projects within its first 6 years. Over a period of 16 months, the team has met over a hundred entrepreneurs and has selected six. Which just shows how relevant the idea of innovation is.

They have chosen: Vu Log self-service car rental, Greencove car sharing, the Lumeneo electric car, the Coruscan car park shelters fitted with solar cells, accessibility for the visually impaired from Phitech and green logistics with Urban-Cab.

Download the Écomobilité Partenaires brochure