[5] Since July 2013, the SNCF Group headquarters are located in a Parisian suburb at 2 Place aux Étoiles in Saint-Denis.

In the 1970s, the SNCF began the TGV high-speed train program with the intention of creating the world's fastest railway network.

[8][9] In April 2019 Stagecoach were banned from bidding for any franchises including the West Coast Partnership which has meant that Virgin and SNCF have now had to withdraw from the shortlist.

These were the: The French state originally took 51% ownership of SNCF and invested large amounts of public subsidies into the system.

[10][11] France's railway infrastructure and rolling stocks were a target for the French Resistance aimed at disrupting and fighting the German occupying forces.

[17] German occupying forces in France also requisitioned SNCF to transport nearly 77,000 Jews and other Holocaust victims to Nazi extermination camps.

[18][19] These deportations have been the subject of historical controversy and lawsuits (such as the Lipietz case) in France as well as in the United States (where subsidiary Keolis is a transportation contractor) to the present day.

[25] Other sources have reported that after the liberation of France SNCF continued to seek payment for transporting Holocaust victims to Germany.

[27] In December 2014, SNCF agreed to pay up to $60 million worth of compensation to Holocaust survivors in the United States.

[29] In the early 2000s, SNCF sought to get a contract from the state of California for a bullet train project between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

SNCF recommended that the train take the most direct route between the two locations to reduce the complexity and cost of the project, but the SNCF's recommendations were cast aside by California politicians who wanted to divert the train through various communities, raising the cost and complexity of the project, as well as the expected travel time.

Jean-Pierre Farandou, the head of the state-owned railway operator, SNCF informed on 26 July 2024 that its high-speed rail network Eurostar suffered from multiple instances of coordinated sabotage, causing significant disruptions to train services.

The affected lines were located in the western, northern, and eastern regions of France, impacting not only domestic trains but also those travelling to neighboring Belgium and London via the Channel Tunnel.

In exchange, SNCF allows passengers on these flights to book railway services between Charles de Gaulle Airport in Roissy (near Paris) and Aix-en-Provence, Angers, Avignon, Bordeaux, Le Mans, Lille, Lyon Part-Dieu, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, Nîmes, Poitiers, Rennes, Strasbourg, Tours, and Valence with their airline.

[37] Since July 2013, the SNCF headquarters are located in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis at 2, place aux Étoiles, 93200 Saint Denis.

[49] SNCF's current visual logo was created in 2005 by the Carré Noir agency, a subsidiary of the Publicis communication group.

[51] David Gilmour, guitarist of the group Pink Floyd, used the jingle as the inspiration for the title track of his 2015 album Rattle That Lock.