concertation

This ongoing concertation is part of our objective to find a shared vision for regions’ and citizens’ needs for travel and lifestyle. This concertation can only make our rail projects richer for the greater good.
 

In recent decades, the number of players involved in preparing our projects and the influence of these players has increased. France’s decentralisation policy gave the local authorities and their constituents greater responsibility in the railway area. In addition, the public’s participation and their right to information on the projects that affect their lifestyle now play an increasingly important role in regulations. Contractors’ practices are evolving alongside these changes, and decision-making processes now involve more and more people.

Réseau Ferré de France, a key player in the railway sector, has made concertation the core of its relations with the other players involved and uses participative reasoning.

The participatory reasoning of concertation


Concertation feeds, changes, and improves the vision of the issue, the vision of the need, the vision of RFF’s project. This constant interaction between the different steps of the concertation system make it easier to appropriate, manage and share the project, and helps make everyone accountable for the project. The project team has to steer this concertation while including partners’, corporate players’ and the public’s perceptions of and contributions to the thinking behind it.

The purpose of concertation is not to impose a unilateral vision of general interest, but to build it together. This way, it provides the opportunity to improve these projects as more and more regional issues are taken into account.

Concertation plays a major part in managing a railway project:

it expands understanding of the project beyond just Réseau Ferré de France and its partners,
it provides Réseau Ferré de France with a better understanding of the region, its players, and their expectations,
as a consequence, it allows Réseau Ferré de France to enrich the project and to better adapt it to the needs and expectations of the affected populations,
finally, it provides insight for the project management decision-makers.
 

Concertation is based on three closely-linked processes: providing information and sharing knowledge, exchanging opinions on the project and on railway policy, fleshing out the project..
Depending on the project type, background and state of progress, concertation may be done with various representatives (government services, local authorities, business leaders, non-profit organisations) or with the general public

 

Réseau Ferré de France has taken its inspiration from the principles found in the concertation charter drafted in 1996 by the Ministry for the Environment.

For more information, download the document.
Concertation charter - FR (PDF, 16 KB)

The environmental charter is another of our reference documents. This charter, which is appended to the constitution, provides a framework for Réseau Ferré de France’s actions. In particular, article 7 of this charter stipulates that "all individuals have the right, under the conditions and limitations set out by law, to access the information on the environment held by the public authorities and to participate in preparing the public decisions with an impact on the environment."
Environmental charter - FR (PDF, 20 KB)