Plans are gathering momentum for the potential launch of a rail freight service connecting the port of Dunkirk and the Paris-Rungis market. Semmaris, the public body running Rungis, has been working for several years on revitalising rail freight at the site, in close collaboration with the State and the Greater Paris regional and metropolitan authorities, a spokesperson for Semmaris told RailFreight.com.
“The aim is to develop new combined transport infrastructure at the Rungis Market and to identify rail operators interested in launching a service between Rungis and Dunkirk Port. A working group involving the port, SNCF Réseau, rail operators (and Semmaris) will be set up shortly.” The spokesperson did not elaborate further.
New rail-road terminal
Earlier this month, intermodal freight transport solutions specialist, the Modal Group and Dunkirk-Port inaugurated a €25 million rail-route terminal at the northern France maritime gateway which is aiming to handle 50,000 ITUs annually. Open to all operators in the transport chain, the terminal has four 750-metre tracks, enabling it to accommodate extra-long trains, as well as a storage capacity at the quayside of 800 TEU and 150 parking spaces for semi-trailers.
Since the beginning of September 2026, a regular service between Dunkirk and Lyon, has been operating from the terminal with three round trips a week. An extension to Piacenza, in Italy, via Lyon, is already planned for 2027. Its strategic location within Dunkirk-Port is viewed as opening up significant opportunities for connections with maritime services via ferries and ro-ro vessels to the UK and Ireland.
Agro-logistics hub
Last summer, Paris-Rungis and Dunkirk-Port signed an agreement to create an agro-logistics hub at the port, served by a rail freight corridor. It makes provision for co-operation to accelerate the decarbonisation of freight transport, “through improving the environmental footprint of the supply chain by promoting shorter and lower-emission routes, as well as actively studying the development of a direct rail link between Dunkirk Port and Paris-Rungis, coupled with support for (road) fleet electrification.”
Terminal project hit the buffers
Earlier this year it came to light that a major project, valued at €36 million, to build a rail freight terminal serving Rungis had hit the buffers. The facility was to have been managed by VIIA.
However, its parent company, Rail Logistics Europe (RLE), part of the SNCF Group, confirmed to RailFreight.com at the time that it had withdrawn its involvement, citing that the necessary economic and technical conditions were not in place to proceed with theproject.
Another setback for rail freight at Rungis came in June 2024 when a service carrying fresh fruit and vegetables from Perpignan, on the French-Spanish border, to the wholesale market, known as the train des primeurs and operated by Fret SNCF, was halted. It has never resumed since.