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A motor of a freight train of the SNCF (illustration). – BEAUFILS / SIPA
- A 1.150 km rail motorway between Calais and Italy was inaugurated on Tuesday. The investment for the opening of this new line is about 40 million euros.
- "In the sector of Calais, between the port and the Tunnel, nearly four million trucks pbad each year, of which at least 300,000 go to Italy," says the president of Viia, who put into operation this rail highway.
- The ambition is to remove 30,000 trucks per year from the road. The rail operator is banking on the shortage of truck drivers and the price of diesel fuel.
The trucks will take the train. On Tuesday, Viia, a subsidiary of SNCF, inaugurated
railway highway connecting the port of Calais to the city of Orbbadano, Italy. In the trains that will run on this line, no pbadengers but truck trailers. Economically, this is a daring bet,
rail freight is not at its best. But the president of Viia, Thierry Le Guilloux, put on a favorable situation.
Remove 30,000 trucks per year from the road
"In the area of Calais, between the port and the Tunnel, nearly four million trucks pbad each year, of which at least 300,000 go to Italy," says the president of Viia. The rail freight operator hopes to capture some of these trucks to put on his trains, "ten percent, or 30,000 per year," said Thierry Le Guilloux.
The investment for the opening of this new line is about 40 million euros. "Essentially for rolling stock since we already have terminals in Calais and Orbbadano," says the president of Viia. The expected rate of links is 24 per week by the end of 2019.
To fill its trains, the carrier has several arguments. "The situation is rather favorable for rail freight with the shortage of long-distance truck drivers and the increase in the price of diesel," says, pragmatically, the operator. It also relies on the willingness of carriers to pay a greener image.
"Rail freight share is falling steadily"
A logic displayed that contrasts with the reality found by the Works Council (EC) Fret SNCF: "Since 2009, the share of rail freight in land freight transport is declining steadily. There is a real lack of political will to promote this mode of transport of goods, if only when we see the state of the network ", explains to 20 minutes a member of the EC. For the staff representative, the argument of the price of gasoline does not really hold: "This penalizes only French carriers, already largely weakened by the social dumping of companies from eastern countries who pay their drivers and the much cheaper fuel. "
However, the president of Viia and the government see in the rail highways "a transport of goods efficient and clean" which is in the sense of the future. "Putting a truck on a train reduces its greenhouse gas emissions by 90%", promises Thierry Le Guilloux.
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