SNCF is France's national railway operator, and its trains use a distinctive two-tone horn to warn passengers and track workers and to announce departures. Recordings of that horn have circulated online among rail enthusiasts, travel creators and meme makers who recognise it instantly from French stations and onboard videos. Because the sound is both official and unmistakable, it has become shorthand for French rail travel, long journeys and sudden arrivals in short-form edits, where a single blast can place a viewer on a platform in Paris or Lyon without any visual cue.