GEC Alsthom Traction was formed from the merger of GEC and Alcatel-Alsthom (formerly known as Compagnie Générale d’Electricité of France) in 1989, which created a Joint Venture of their Power Engineering businesses (Power Stations, Switchgear and Rail Transport). The UK headquarters of the traction business was based at Trafford Park in Manchester. GEC Alsthom purchased train builder Metro-Cammell based at Washwood Heath, Birmingham from the Laird Group in 1989, bringing into the group a company which had a long association with GEC Traction and its predecessors as a vehicle builder. GEC Alsthom Traction became part of the Transport Equipment Group (TEG) with the French sites Ornans (motors), Tarbes (control equipment) and Villeurbanne (electronic systems, converters and control equipment), later joined by ACEC Transport (Charleroi). A major project in this period was the design and build of the Trans Manche Super Train (TMST) for London. TMST, later known as Eurostar Class 373, was the first TGV with asynchronous traction drive, all TGVs until later Duplex fleets having DC or synchronous traction drives. It was designed for three voltages 750v DC for the UK Southern Region, 3000v DC for Belgium and 25kV for the tunnel and France, and later for HS1 high speed line from the tunnel to London. SNCF later added 1500v DC to 4 trains to allow the trains to run to the Alps. In 1993, as part of the rationalisation of the equipment group, it was announced that the headquarters of GEC Alsthom Traction would move to Preston, leaving only Power Module design and manufacture at Manchester, and a project team was set up at Preston for the regeneration of the Preston site, with the eventual closing of all activities at Trafford Park in 1998. At the same time, there was rationalisation of product lines in the equipment group, with inductors and auxiliary converters moving to Preston, traction motor design concentrated at Ornans, switchgear at Tarbes and electronic control systems at Villeurbanne. GEC Alsthom Traction became Alstom Traction on 22nd June 1998 and the company name survived to 19th August 2008 but was increasingly integrated within the Transport division of Alstom.

In 1988 a joint-venture was formed between the General Electric Company (GEC) with Compagnie Générale d’Electricité (CGE) that led to the establishment of an Anglo-French company, GEC Alsthom in 1989. This company encompassed the Power Generation and Transmission, Rail Transport (25%) businesses from the constituent companies of GEC and CGE. The GEC Alsthom company headquarters were based at Rugby, Warwickshire and the headquarters for Transport were based at Trafford Park in Manchester. GEC Alsthom purchased train builder Metro-Cammell based at Washwood Heath, Birmingham from the Laird Group in 1989, bringing into the group a company which had a long association with GEC Traction and its predecessors as a vehicle builder. In 1998 GEC Alsthom was re-formed and became Alstom with Transport / Alstom Transport one of its major divisions.

The Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF) is the French National Railway Company and was formed by a decree from the French Government on 31st August 1937. This was to take over the operation of the French Railway system from the four existing private companies, Chemins de fer de l’Est (Est), Chemins de fer du Nord (Nord), Chemins de fer de Paris à Lyon et à la Méditerranée (PLM) and Chemins de fer de Paris à Orléans et du Midi (PO-Midi) and the railways already controlled by the state under the Chemins de fer de l’État (État). SNCF took over control of the French Railway system from 1st January 1938. Upon creation, it became responsible for 42,700 km of railway, 8% of which was electrified, run by 515,000 workers. At this time, it was controlled by the French Government, who owned 51% of the shares, and the private railway companies, who between them owned 49%. The board was formed of the Vice President of the Council of State, the Governor of the Bank of France, the Director of Caisse des Depôts et Consignations, 12 representatives of the State, 12 nominees of the private railway companies, four members appointed by railwaymen, and two who had rendered eminent railway service. The operation of SNCF was divided into five regions, which corresponded to the private companies, Northern, Nord, Eastern, Est, South Eastern, PLM, South Western, PO-Midi, and Western, État. Each of the regions was controlled by a regional manager who reported to the general manager. Each of the regions has its own operating, rolling stock and way and works departments. Following the Second World War SNCF embarked on a program of five-year plans in order to recover from the damage and to modernise the system. In 1966 a research service was created and in 1981 the first Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV) was introduced between Paris and Lyon. In 1982 SNCF ceased to exist as a nationalised company, as it had been since creation in 1937, and was restructured in line with the Loi d’orientation des transports intérieurs, the law on internal transport policy. This handed the company over to complete state ownership, removing the stake that had been controlled by the predecessor companies. Under the new structure SNCF became a Public Industry and Commercial Establishment with increased state control. The board now consisted of seven state representatives, six members elected by staff and five others. Also, a contract between the government and SNCF, the Contrat de Plan, which set out the strategic objectives and statutory relationship and was renewed every five years, was created. This limited passenger fares, laid out SNCF responsibilities to working conditions and set out what government subsidies would be and where they would be spent, debt elimination, services, infrastructure etc. The restructuring did not eliminate the 12 billion Franc debt the company had accrued. Following the 1982 restructuring the regional structure of SNCF was replaced with sectors. Passenger services were split into Intercity, Regional, later rebranded in 1987 as Transport Express Regional (TER) and Pairs Suburban, while Freight services were set up as an individual sector. Several subsidiaries were also formed including SERNAM, parcels, Servirail, catering, SGW, wagon hire, CNC, container service, and Cariane, coach and bus services. In 1997 Réseau Ferré National, later known as Réseau Ferré de France (RFF), was created as a state owned Industrial and Commercial Enterprise. This was responsible for developing and improving the French rail network with the work being carried out by SNCF under RFF guidance. It also took over all state-owned infrastructure controlled by SNCF but not used in operating transport services. In 1999 SNCF launched a partnership with the Paris transport association known as Transilien SNCF. This was designed to improve the quality and usability of Paris suburban services. In 2015 the Rail Reform Act again restructured SNCF by creating the SNCF Group. This is a unified public service company which consists of three states owned Industrial and Commercial Enterprises, SNCF, SNCF Réseau and SNCF Mobilités, which operate five core businesses. SNCF manages the property and land owned by the group under the business name SNCF Immobilier. SNCF Réseau manages the infrastructure network, traffic, expansion and maintenance in France as well as providing guidance for systems in other counties. SNCF Mobilités is made up of three business areas. These are SNCF Voyageurs, Keolis and SNCF Logistics. SNCF Voyageurs operates passenger trains in France consisting of Transilien, public transport in the Paris region, TER, regional services, Intercités, intercity services, and Voyages SNCF, high speed services, domestic long-distance services and international services. SNCF Voyageurs is also responsible for station management. Keolis manages public transport in France and internationally. SNCF Logistics is made up of Geodis, which operates freight transport in France and internationally, TFMM, which operates rail and multimodal freight transport, Ermewa Group, which is responsible for leasing rail equipment, and STVA, which operates auto and vehicle logistics. In this form SNCF is controlled by a supervisory board with each Industrial and Commercial Enterprise having its own board. As of 2016 SNCF operated 30,000 km of railways in France with 2,000 km of this being high speed lines and 14,500 km electrified. The group employs 260,000 people with 155,000 working in France.