The head of France’s infrastructure manager, SNCF Réseau, has hailed the “dynamism” of the country’s rail freight sector and in particular, the combined transport segment, with investments and the launch of new services at record levels. Speaking at the recent annual assembly of trade body, the GNTC, Matthieu Chabanel began by highlighting two positive developments on the investment front.
The first is a proposal to increase funding for the modernisation and renewal of the (French) rail network – on which the majority of freight trains run – from 3 billion euros to 4.5 billion euros per year. “We don’t know at this stage exactly how the 4.5 billion euros per year will be financed but we are gearing up for this level of investment as the contracts for work on the network we signed in September demonstrate.”
The second is a 4 billion-euro rail freight expansion project co-financed by the French State and the EU, named Ulysse Fret. Running until the next decade, it encompasses service lanes, marshalling facilities, capillary lines, digital technology, gauges, capacity and intermodal terminals. However, not everything has been settled yet with regard to funding, with some uncertainty over the financial input from regional authorities at a time of budgetary constraints, Chabanel noted.
8-12 new traffic flows, improvements in train paths
“This year we will have seen the launch of between eight and 12 new traffic flows – almost one per month – a ‘historic’ performance for (French) combined transport. What stands out is that more than half of these new traffic flows are operating from either a new terminal or one that has undergone expansion”, Chabanel stated.
Maintaining such momentum and allocating satisfactory train paths for these new traffic flows, is crucial, he underlined. The initial results for the 2026 allocation show a significant improvement on the current year, especially in terms of the adequacy rate – train paths obtained which more or less match the requests from freight train operators – which have reached a record level.
This is a result of a collective effort with operators requesting train paths which are feasible, allowing SNCF Réseau to make things he revealed. “There has also been a lot of work done to address the issue of overbooking. This has been greatly reduced, enabling us to run trains faster and with better quality.”
Private investment in terminals and longer concessions
The SNCF Réseau chief went on to comment on the prospect of private sector investment in ‘combi’ terminals. In October last year, the government announced a ‘national master plan’ which made provision for more than 20 new facilities by 2032 and the extension and modernisation of several existing ones at an estimated cost of 1.1 billion euros.
“It is clear that there is a willingness to invest in combined transport terminals – a sector that can attract private capital and which is remunerated by the operation of the facility itself.” Working with the GNTC and 4F, the rail freight alliance, SNCF Réseau has met with private investors and sees its task as keeping them onside and creating the conditions which facilitate their involvement in investment projects.
He also underlined the importance of responding to expressions of interest at new locations and being ready to carry out work to connect them to the rail network. This would happen by “relaxing a number of rules, particularly those relating to the duration of the concessions in these terminals”. An example would be the Paris-Valenton terminal that SNCF Réseau has leased out for 22 years instead of the usual five, he added.
Chabanel also remarked on terminals that have been built on land that does not belong to SNCF Réseau, citing two ”very successful examples” – the Terminal Ouest Provence, in Miramas, near Marseille and the Combronde terminal near Clermont Ferrand.