Spotlight on the SNCF Infra division, as it works to renovate nearly 78 km of rail track in Northern France.

35 years - that's how long railway components like rails, sleepers and ballast last. That's when the track needs to be renovated, to ensure safety and comfort for passengers. 5 years is the time required to thoroughly plan and implement a major maintenance operation of this type.

It's a major undertaking! Nearly 78 km of track is going to be re-laid, 38 level crossings renovated, platforms and sidings refurbished throughout the North of France. It's 6 months of work, all in all, performed during a 9-hour night-time period, and representing an investment of €800,000 to €1 million, funded by Réseau Ferré de France, the track owner.

Night shift. 200 SNCF employees are overseeing the work and 300 technicians from EFT (Européenne de Travaux Ferroviaires) are making it happen, with a range of impressive-looking heavy equipment and plant Take the 'suite rapide', for instance, a maintenance train that takes care of the heavy work. It features a long chain of trucks, which eat up the rails, sleepers and ballast at the front, spitting out new components at the back - at a rate of 850 metres every night.

That's ecomobility for you!The operation works hand-in-hand with a large-scale recycling operation. The old rails are taken back to SNCF workshops for recycling or scrapping. The wooden sleepers are cleaned up, ground down and turned into compost. Concrete sleepers are used as fill-in rubble by builders. After treatment, between 15 and 20% of the ballast is reused on the new track; the rest is recycled and used in road building.

Good news for our neighbours! People living near the lines will be pleased to know that the new ballast and rubber-coated level crossings are designed to reduce train noise.

All thanks to 'Infra', the division within the SNCF that is developing the fast-track rail renewal plan, working on 500 km of track in 2008.

Check the engineering works map and train times