A new lease of life for air conditioning storage

At Périgueux, the Charente-Périgord industrial Technicentre is the only one in France to maintain and dispatch air conditioning units for all passenger trains.

But with heatwaves on the increase, the site had to manage a combination of :

• blocks awaiting repair
• and blocks ready for dispatch to the four corners of France.

As a result, storage capacity was all the more compromised as a new heat peak was expected in the summer of 2025.

In order to relieve congestion at the site, SNCF Voyageurs has relied on collective intelligence: equipment operatives and Supply Chain experts have pooled their know-how. The result: an outsourced platform, located 40 km from the Technicentre, is taking over.

From May to June 2025, stocks of ready-to-use air conditioning units were gradually transferred there. The aim is to streamline logistics, speed up the availability of parts and prepare the ground before the first heatwaves arrive.

By 10 June 2025, the platform had proved its worth in the first heatwave:

• 300 blocks shipped in just 14 days;
• 250 lorries chartered to supply maintenance sites.

A real baptism of fire, passed with flying colours, offering passengers comfort despite the heat.

As well as providing comfort for passengers, this solution also makes the day-to-day work of the Technicentre teams safer and simpler: thanks to the space freed up, working conditions are also improved.

The result: improved air quality in the workshops for the teams and cooler trains for passengers all summer long.