The Viia Connect Bourgneuf-Aiton combi terminal (VCBA) in France is laying off 19 of its 21 employees. The facility served as the French destination of the France-Italy rail highway, halted over two years ago when a major landslide blocked the Fréjus railway through the Maurienne Valley.
Since then, it remains suspended despite the line re-opening in March this year. “VCBA had been responsible for checking trucks and unhitching trailers to load them onto low-loader wagons bound for Italy. Until the end of March, we had obtained some partial activity measures for employees who had been out of work since the landslide,” Antoine Fatiga, secretary of the Transport branch of the CGT labour union, told French media.
‘Complex situation’
“Despite all the statements and promises made to us, around 20 employees have been made redundant. Only two of them will remain to maintain and guard the site”, Fatiga said. “VCBA had been responsible for checking trucks and unhitching trailers to load them onto low-loader wagons bound for Italy. Until the end of March, we had obtained some partial activity measures for employees who had been out of work since the landslide”.
“It’s a complex situation. AFA, (a subsidiary of the since dismantled Fret SNCF), which was contracted to provide train transport (for the rail highway) was forced to hand these duties over to its Italian partner, Mercitalia – a subsidiary of Italian state operator, Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane – but who are now waiting until financial aid is granted before resuming the service.”
Fatiga said the real fear today was that the VCBA terminal will not reopen. If this were the case, it would be necessary to wait until the end of the first phase of work on the future Lyon-Turin high-speed line (currently scheduled for 2033) before trucks could once again take the train through the Alps.
Forerunner of sustainable transport
Before its closure, the AFA was transporting between 30,000 and 40,000 trailers annually between Bourgneuf-Aiton and the Italian terminal in Orbassano, near Turin, with dangerous goods being a core traffic. The service was launched in 2003 and viewed as a forerunner of a sustainable transport strategy consisting of shifting freight from road to rail and contributing to the reduction in CO2 emissions.
But, despite public subsidies it has run up financial losses which both France and Italy are no longer willing to cover. Negotiations between the two states aimed at allowing the service to restart have been protracted due to a failure to agree on a funding mechanism. One market commentator told RailFreight.com that a hiatus of more than two years in the operation of the service would make the task of attracting shippers and hauliers again to combined transport extremely difficult.
Road haulage, which remains more competitively priced than rail freight, has clearly benefited from the closure and relief from truck congestion through the alpine valleys has taken a backward step.
Italy sounds upbeat note
While the noises coming from France on the resumption of the service have been muted, in Italy the mood has been decidedly upbeat. In an interview with RailFreight.com at the end of last month, Paolo Foietta, President of the Italy-France Inter-governmental Commission for the Turin-Lyon railway, claimed the service could restart at the end of 2025. However, he did underline the importance of subsidies in addressing current issues such as cross-border infrastructure, but did not disclose whether Italy and France now saw eye to eye on funding.