The arrival of a new rail traction company in France has been welcomed by a leading incumbent player but who warned it could lead to upheaval on the domestic market. At the end of last month, intermodal solutions specialist, the Modal Group, announced that it was launching its own traction operator, Traix.
The company will initially operate a fleet of five locomotives with plans to increase this to 15 trains by the end of the year. Traix will focus on France’s leading rail freight hubs, including Marseille, Lyon, the Greater Paris region, Dunkirk and Metz as well as key border crossings.
“A new operator is always good news, but it also illustrates yet another major shift in the French market; namely that combined transport operators are also becoming railway companies,” DB Cargo France chairman and CEO, Alexandre Gallo, told RailFreight.com. “This is the case for (Modal Group subsidiary) Delta Rail with Traix but also for T3M with Combirail (Open Modal) and Novatrans with GCA Traction (Groupe Saint-Andre).”
‘Traditional’ rail companies could suffer
As combined transport is the fastest-growing segment in the industry – now accounting for more than 50% of all rail freight – it may seem logical for these operators to make this choice, he explained. “However, it may also upset the balance of the market for ‘traditional’ railway companies who haul a large number of combined transport trains. They could suffer as a result of their customers bringing these operations in-house. That is why at DB Cargo France we decided to launch our own combined transport operations.
Gallo went on to reveal that his company is currently providing traction to Delta Rail on its services between Lyon and Marseille-Fos and between Lyon and Piacenza, in northern Italy.“We have no indication at this stage if Delta Rail will bring all its train operations in-house but doubtless it is part of their plans.” Delta Rail will launch a direct rail freight service between Dunkirk and Lyon on 3 September to be operated by Traix.