Brittany Ferries has implemented a contingency plan for shippers and road hauliers who normally use its intermodal road-rail freight service between Cherbourg and Bayonne-Mouguerre, which was suspended at the start of last week until further notice following a train derailment. The backup solution consists of operating a freight-only ferry service between Poole, in south-west England and Bilbao, in Spain, using the ro-ro vessel, the Commodore Clipper.
The first sailing from Poole took place on January 17 and a second is scheduled for January 21 January. Sailings on the Bilbao-Poole are scheduled for January 19 and 23. Each sailing can transport up to 80 freight units. “Since last Saturday, the Commodore Clipper has been providing freight transport services exclusively between Poole and Bilbao. This service will continue until at least January 31,” a spokesperson for Brittany Ferries told RailFreight.com.
The ‘combi’ service between Cherbourg and Bayonne-Mouguerre had been operating five weekly round-trips and the derailed convoy was composed of 17 Modalohr-type wagons with double pockets, carrying 34 unaccompanied trailers. No information on the investigation into the causes of the derailment – thought to have been completed last week – has been disclosed.
Cleanup operations continue
The lifting and removal of the derailed train and its wagons and trailers has been described by SNCF Réseau, France’s rail infrastructure manager as an operation “of unprecedented scale in France” and which has mobilized a team of 100 engineers and technicians. The first wagons were lifted from the tracks on Friday, 16 January. Once the removal of the convoy has been completed, major track repair work will have to be carried out, SNCF Réseau said.
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 last at least three weeks. Clearly, the derailment is a major blow to a service launched less than a year ago and which has benefited from significant public and private investment.
Brittany Ferries had been aiming to increase the number of weekly round trips to six or seven in 2026 while also outlining 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 shippers and road hauliers from considering a modal shift to rail.