Following the return of rail freight to Cherbourg earlier year this with the launch of a rail highway service the French Basque Country, creating an intermodal freight corridor linking markets in the UK, Ireland, France and Spain, the Normandy port is set to see more rail activity in the sector in 2026, according to local media reports.
Orano NPS, which manufactures specialty packaging used for the transport and dry storage of nuclear materials, inaugurated a plant at the port a year ago. It is now behind a project to rehabilitate an abandoned one kilometer stretch of track in its vicinity which will provide access to the mainline rail network and take advantage of the port’s new intermodal terminal.
The company is planning to ship its products by train to a terminal at another group plant located around 20 kilometers away in Valognes. Orano is contributing the lion’s share of the 600,000 euros investment required for the track’s renovation with the port authority also contributing. Work is due to start in the coming weeks.
Rail highway
Cherbourg’s intermodal terminal was inaugurated in July and is the departure point of Brittany Ferries’ rail freight service for unaccompanied trailers to Bayonne-Mouguerre, close to the French border with Spain where a dedicated terminal has been built.
Operated by the ro-ro shipping company’s subsidiary, BAI Rail, the service is currently operating five to six weekly round trips (around 1,000 kilometers in each direction) and there plans to upgrade the schedule to a daily round trip by 2030 with two trains.
Each convoy is made up of 18 Modalohr-type wagons with double pockets, allowing 36 unaccompanied trailers to be transported and loaded and unloaded using specialised horizontal handling facilities. Capacity is expected to increase to 21 wagons (42 trailers) next year.