SNCF main business of the SNCF Group, which in 2017 had €33.5 billion of sales in 120 countries. The SNCF Group employs more than 260,000 people. Since July 2013, the SNCF Group headquarters are located in a Parisian suburb at 2 Place aux Étoiles in Saint-Denis. The President of the SNCF Group is Guillaume Pepy. SNCF operates almost all of France's railway system, including the TGV ("Train à Grande Vitesse", meaning "High-speed train"). In the 1970s, the SNCF began the TGV high-speed train programme with the intention of creating the world's fastest railway network. It came to fruition in 1981, when
SNCF Class BB 12000 engines can support a very large overload current of 1800 amps, well over the 1000 amp design. They suffered very little wheel slip; they could pull 1756 tonnes trains on a 10 ‰ grade and 2885 tonnes trains on a 5 ‰ grade. The locomotives had few flaws, none of which related to the electrical components. They had cramped cabins, poor braking and couldn't work as multiple-unit sets. SNCF Class BB 12000 The SNCF Class BB 12000 were electric locomotives operated by SNCF. The first examples arrived on the railway in 1953, operating on the 25 kV 50 Hz line