DB Cargo Iberia is to close its axle-change facility in the French town of Cerbère, on the Mediterranean border with Spain, by the end of the year, due to an ongoing decline in business. The site currently employs around 35-40 staff who this summer staged a work-to-rule strike in protest to the closure. Moreover, labour unions are to stage a demonstration in Perpignan on 5 November.
The site was set up by Transfesa in 1953 and strategically-located due to the different rail gauge between the Iberian peninsula and the rest of Europe, the difference stemming from fears of a military invasion by rail. Thus the need for axle changes when crossing the border.
Drastic drop
The revenue of of DB Cargo Iberia Axle Change, formerly Transfesa France, totalled €5.01 million in 2024, generating a net profit of €372,000, according to the company’s financial statement. These figures also include the activities of a second axle-changing facility operated by DB Cargo Iberia at Hendaye, in proximity to the Atlantic-facing French-Spanish border. In 2025, revenue fell to €4.59 million and led to a net loss of €418,000.
“Back in the heyday of axle changes, we were handling up to 20 trains a day,” explained the facility’s director Marc Salas in an interview with local media. This compares with the current throughput of only six trains per week. The fall-off in traffic is largely attributed to road haulage capturing market share
Future in industrial maintenance?
As for the prospects of a takeover of the site, Salas said five companies had already responded to a call for expressions of interest, although neither a specific project nor the number of jobs likely to be retained is known at this stage. He hopes, in particular, that it has a future as a centre for industrial maintenance.
For his part, the mayor of Cerbère, Christian Grau, is focusing on potential solutions for the site such as the possibility of developing maintenance and repair services for both passenger and freight trains. He also hopes to attract new businesses who can leverage the site’s existing rail infrastructure and buildings.
Inland from Cerbère, the Perthus Tunnel is European gauge-compliant while Spain’s Catalonia region is planning to build a terminal in Figueres side with a third rail, so that both gauges can run in parallel. The project’s cost is estimated at almost €127 million but is unlikely to enter service before 2030.