The Fréjus road tunnel (FRT) has taken the strain of the freight traffic that would have normally been transported on the main France-Italy rail line, closed since end-August 2023 following a major landslide in the French Alps. Figures from the tunnel’s operating authority, SFTRF, show that truck volume through the FRT totaled just over 1.1 million units last year, a rise of almost 20 per cent on 2023 – the equivalent of more than 183,000 HGVs.
The rail tunnel is now scheduled to re-open to trains on 31 March. In the quarter following the closure of the rail line some 371, 903 trucks passed through the FRT almost 40,000 more than in Q4 2022. While some of this increase in the FRT’s HGV traffic in 2024 could be attributed to the closure of the Mont Blanc road tunnel during part of the final quarter, the figures bring into sharp relief the high number of trucks plying the Alpine valleys connecting France and Italy and the air pollution generated in terms of CO2 emissions.
No to a second Mont Blanc tunnel
They also go a good way to explaining why local climate protection groups and the public authorities are firmly behind moves to transfer freight from road to rail. Earlier this month, the French government closed the door on a proposal by Italy to build a second tube through the Mont Blanc tunnel. In a tweet to a local MP, French Transport minister, Philippe Tabarot, said France position’s was unchanged and that it continued to oppose such a proposal.
The creation of a second tunnel under Europe’s tallest mountain has been suggested on several occasions by Italy in response to the growth in cross-border road traffic, notably of trucks and was put to the French again at a recent bilateral summit in Nice. France has consistently argued that increasing capacity at the tunnel would lead to a deterioration in air quality.
The MP for the town of Chamonix, located in close proximity to the Mont Blanc tunnel, Xavier Roseren, said he was satisfied with the minister’s response on a second tube which described as an idea from another age. “At a time when our priority must be to decarbonise transport, particularly by rail, it is unthinkable to reopen this debate,” he underlined.
A strong hit for rail freight companies
In an interview last month with Railfreight.com, Alexandre Gallo, head of DB Cargo France and president of industry association, AFRA, said his company had taken a significant hit as a result of the France-Italy rail line closure with some 40 trains taken out of its schedule each week, representing nearly 15 million euros in lost revenue (over the period of the closure). While it was clearly good news that the line is scheduled to re-open on 31 March, he warned that the challenge will be to convince shippers who have switched to road haulage during the closure to return to the train.