France’s ongoing political crisis, which has seen President Macron appoint five prime ministers in less than two years, has cast doubts on annual subsidies for rail freight. This year, they totalled between 200 million euros and 215 million euros with around half of this amount spent on supporting single wagon load (SWL) activity.
The French state budget for 2026 continues to be debated in Parliament and the vote on its adoption is still several weeks away. This has left the rail freight industry in the dark as to the level of subsidies to be granted for next year and whether it will continue to include financial support to the SWL segment as well as grants to offset the additional costs associated with modal shift from road, to rail. However, it will take some comfort from the remarks made by a senior French Ministry of Transport (MoT) official at the recent annual assembly of combined rail-road freight transport body, the GNTC.
Uncertainty
In his address to attendees, Alexandre Hanache, deputy director of Rail Services at France’s Directorate-General for Infrastructure, Transport and Mobility (DGITM), acknowledged that the current (political) context had created a certain amount of uncertainty. However, the MoT was strongly advocating for the continuation of the efforts being made as part of the national strategy for the development of rail freight and whose goal was to increase its modal share in relation to road, he explained.
“While the parliamentary debate on the finance bill has only just begun and we cannot prejudge the outcome, initial feedback appears to be rather positive for the sector, allowing subsidies to be maintained at the 2025 level,” Hanache said. The fact that the MoT (headed by Philippe Tabarot) has greater autonomynd does not depend on another ministry and that the new minister of Labour is former SNCF chief, Jean-Pierre Farandou are also important plus points for the rail freight lobby, he added.
Meanwhile, in an open letter to Transport minister Tabarot, rail freight lobby group, Alliance 4F, underlined that in “a complicated business climate, the recovery (in the industry) remains fragile.“ It called for the confirmation of the operating subsidies in the 2026 draft finance bill and their continuance until 2030, as previously announced and the securing of the infrastructure investment trajectory, estimated at 4.5 billion euros by 2032, according to the Ulysse Fret report on rail freight development published by the State.