La Vie du Rail

La Vie du Rail (English: Railway Life) is a French publishing group headquartered in Auray, which specialises in magazines and books about rail transport, and transport more generally. The editor-in-chief is Vincent Lalu.

La Vie du Rail

Status	Active
Founded	1952 (1952)
Founder	SNCF
Country of origin	France
Headquarters location	Auray, Brittany
Publication types	La Vie du Rail magazine Ville, rail & transports Rail Passion
Nonfiction topics	Rail transport
Official website	www.vdr-multimedia.com

It was started in 1952 as an in-house publication of the SNCF, taking over the role played by Notre Métier ("Our trade") since 1938. In 1965 it became a weekly paid-for magazine independent of the SNCF, which retains a minority share in the company. The name then passed to the special-interest publishing house.

Titles

Since 2002, so as to diversify its customer base, la Vie du Rail has split its coverage and publishes:

• La Vie du Rail magazine, generalist weekly centring on rail transport with an average circulation of over 100,000.
• Ville, rail & transports ("Town, rail & transport"): Initially weekly and titled Rail & Transport, it was then published every two weeks as Ville & transports magazine. In 2009 it merged with La Vie du rail international. It is aimed at those working in the transport sector.
• Historail, quarterly, specialising in rail history.
• Rail Passion, approximately 100-page monthly with an average circulation of 40,000 copies.

Commercial structure

Shares in the company are split between:

• Vincent Lalu et Associés, 71%
• SNCF, 10%
• Société du personnel de La Vie du Rail, 5%
• Groupe La Vie-Le Monde, 5%
• Groupe Ouest-France, 5%
• Mutuelle d'assurance des artisans de France, 4%.

See also

• List of railroad-related periodicals

External links

• (in French) La Vie du Rail, official website
• (in French) VDR Multimedia, Publisher's website