The General Management Technical Department was responsible for carrying out the organisational studies prescribed by the Director General, and for SNCF’s annual and future programmes. It was also tasked with centralising matters of data processing, statistics, technical documentation, transport cost prices and the utilisation efficiency of major equipment.

It comprised:

The Central Organisation Commission, responsible for general organisational studies (mergers, unification, simplification of Departments and modernisation of methods)

The Central Studies Division, responsible for:

• studying, in principle, on behalf of the Director General or at the request of the Heads of the Central Departments, the annual and future programmes (operations, equipment and fixed installations), in close collaboration with the Heads of those Departments.
• establishing transport cost prices, assessments of major works carried out, and the utilisation efficiency of major equipment and tooling.
• monitoring general technical progress made in France and abroad.

The Central Documentation Subdivision, responsible for gathering general documentation, technical or otherwise, and for sharing its most noteworthy points through periodic notes or bulletins

The Central Statistics Subdivision, responsible for centralising all requests for statistics sent to the Regions by SNCF’s Central Departments, in order to avoid duplication, and also responsible for preparing the summary statistics needed by the Committee, the Chairman and the Director General, as well as the Annual Statistical Report

Contents

The files of the General Management Technical Department contain a great deal of correspondence from the Secrétariat W. The themes covered are numerous:

• General organisational matters, and above all the organisation of relations with the German authorities under the Armistice Convention
• Equipment matters: leasing, ordering and delivery of railway equipment, mainly to the German authorities; fleet numbers and equipment inventories; sums owed to SNCF for equipment services provided; restitution of equipment seized by the Germans
• Fixed installation matters (tracks, buildings, engineering structures): files relating to the construction, reconstruction and maintenance work carried out at the request of the occupying authorities
• Commercial matters: files relating to German and Allied transport (military, special, etc.) and their execution
• Traffic matters: prevention of acts of sabotage as part of traffic safety, protection of staff against air raids
• Financial matters: files relating to services provided by SNCF, mainly to the German authorities (but also to the Allies), their invoicing, and the settlement of expenses

Also found here:

• Files on the French railway occupation detachment in Germany (preparation phase of the Occupation)
• Memoranda of decisions taken by the Director General at various conferences held during the 1939-1945 period
• Files relating to the classification of regulatory texts and archives