{"id":388427,"date":"2026-03-17T20:04:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T10:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=70041"},"modified":"2026-03-17T20:04:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T10:04:36","slug":"brittany-ferries-rail-highway-service-back-on-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=388427","title":{"rendered":"Brittany Ferries rail highway service back on track"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following a train derailment in January this year, Brittany Ferries\u2019 rail highway service between the Normandy port of Cherbourg and Bayonne\/Mouguerre, in the French Basque Country, is operational once again. The cause of the derailment has yet to be disclosed publicly.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>The intermodal route resumed at the end of last week with convoy of 12 wagons, transporting 24 road trailers, a spokesperson for the company told RailFreight.com. From today (17 March) it will return to normal capacity levels with 18 wagons, transporting 36 wagons road trailers per leg of the round trip.<\/p>\n

\u2018Unprecedented\u2019 removal and repair operation<\/h2>\n

The service had been operating five weekly round-trips when a train composed of 17 Modalohr-type wagons\u00a0 derailed<\/a> on a section of the Cherbourg-Caen rail line just 50 kilometers into its journey of almost 1,000 kilometres. Cleanup operations were described at the time by SNCF R\u00e9seau as an operation \u201cof unprecedented scale in France\u201d and one which mobilised a team of 100 engineers and technicians.<\/p>\n

\"A
A snapshot of the derailed train near Carentan. Image: \u00a9 SNCF R\u00e9seau<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Major repairs of the track and rail infrastructure followed. In total, putting the line back in working order was estimated to have cost 10 million euros. Brittany Ferries introduced a backup solution during the two month hiatus in the combi service. It consisted of operating a freight-only ferry service between Poole, in south-west England and Bilbao.<\/p>\n

Increase in frequencies<\/h2>\n

The derailment was an untimely blow to a service inaugurated as recently as July 2025<\/a>. It raised fears that the company risked losing its \u2018combi\u2019 customer base and that other road hauliers would be deterred from considering a modal shift from truck to train. However, the service has resumed with six departures weekly from Cherbourg and seven from Bayonne\/Mouguerre \u2013 an increase in the number of frequencies operated pre-derailment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following a train derailment in January this year, Brittany Ferries\u2019 rail highway service between the Normandy port of Cherbourg and Bayonne\/Mouguerre, in the French Basque\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12125,12126,11453,94,343,65,471,17020,47],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-388427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bayonne","category-brittany-ferries","category-cherbourg","category-france","category-infrastructure","category-intermodal","category-news","category-rail-highway","category-rail-news","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t