The section of rail line in Normandy where a freight train operated by Brittany Ferries derailed on Sunday, 11 January will be out of service for at least three weeks, France’s rail infrastructure manager has told RailFreight.com. Following the incident, SNCF Réseau said its teams secured the entire site and an investigation was launched to determine the causes of the accident which will continue until Wednesday, 14 January.
The train had covered just over 50 kilometres of a 1,000-kilometre journey to Bayonne-Mouguerrs in the French Basque Country when the derailment occurred. The tracks were refurbished in 2024 and inspected six weeks ago. The train will be lifted from the line in a few days, after the 34 Brittany Ferries trailers, spread over 17 wagons, have been removed. Given the characteristics of the convoy (640 meters long and weighing 1,500 tonnes), the lifting operation will require the use of a specialised Kirow railway crane, a spokesperson for SNCF Réseau explained.
“Once the lifting operation is complete, major track repair work will have to be carried out. This will mainly concern the catenary wires and their supports over a distance of more than 100 metres, as well as the rails, sleepers and structures affected over a distance of more than 500 metres.” The track repair work is expected to take at least three weeks. The diagnosis, which is still ongoing, will enable a more precise timetable for the resumption of service to be determined, the spokesperson added. One of the immediate concerns facing Brittany Ferries is the operation to return the trailers that were part of the derailed convoy to customers.
Rail highway launched only last year
Moreover, the sudden suspension of the service could have led to a build-up of trailers at the Cherbourg ‘combi’ terminal which arrived at the port aboard the ferry operator’s Ro-Ro vessels from the UK and Ireland. But this has not been confirmed. Approached by RailFreight.com, a spokesperson for Brittany Ferries said the company was not able to comment on such issues at this stage.
Clearly, the derailment is an untimely blow to a service launched less than a year ago. Brittany Ferries had also been been aiming to increase the number of weekly round trips to six or seven in 2026. The company had outlined plans too to carry fresh fruit and vegetables on the rail highway service as well as cosmetics and perfumes. While its future is hardly in doubt, the real challenge will be to retain its current customer base as well as hoping this kind of incident will not deter other road hauliers from considering a modal shift to rail.
