French term (edited): c�blage solidaire

Hi Nancy! I'm afraid it IS only an intelligent guess, because I'm not familiar with this term in French; however, technical logic would suggest to me that the identification number is built into the 'carriage' (etc.) by hard-wiring, in such a way that whatever happens, software- or equipment-wise, this unit ALWAYS keeps the same number --- presumably, quite important here!

It is a common enough technique in very many fields, to make important (but simple) information inviolable by software or equipment problems, power failures and the like....

I hope this is some help, if it fits your context?

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Note added at 33 mins (2004-12-30 14:20:09 GMT)
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I\'ve just read Michel\'s post (crossed with mine), and whilst I see what he\'s getting at, I\'m not sure I would read it the same way.

For one thing, it would indeed make sense to have wiring that is \'built-in to the rolling stock\' --- but to me this then sits uneasily with \'defini par...\'

Also, the fact that they have used the quotes suggests to me that they may be using this rather literal translation slightly coyly, as it represents an anglicism -- it is after all pretty much a word-for-word translation of \'hard wiring\', almost certainly to be frowned upon by the AF!