Fewer trucks on the roads, more goods on the rails, the idea is not new, but the projects are still progressing slowly. Between Orléans and the port of Le Havre, however, the State and its partners have decided to step on the accelerator to develop the transfer of heavy goods transport to rail.
Transport Minister Clément Beaune, François Bonneau, President of the Center – Val-de-Loire region, Hervé Morin, his Norman counterpart and Matthieu Chabanel, CEO of SNCF Réseau, have pledged to finance a “combined transport which will see the light of day by 2025 at the Fleury-les-Aubrais station.
Well located on a railway junction and well served by the road network at the heart of a large logistics and industrial region, it will centralize containers at a well-identified point and supply national and European traffic. “This is a new step in combined transport in France”, welcomed the boss of SNCF Réseau, which aims to triple the combined traffic to Le Havre.
Other developments to come
The works, of the order of 10 million euros, will begin in July 2023 and will make it possible to develop the access roads for trucks as well as the quays and gantries necessary for the unloading of heavy goods vehicles, whose containers will be then loaded onto trains.
The gain should initially be 150 fewer trucks on the roads every day, knowing that a freight train can carry the equivalent of 40 heavy goods vehicles, emits nine times less CO2 and consumes six times less energy. .
New work could also be carried out later to lengthen the platforms and accommodate trains of 750 meters, which would make it possible to further reduce the heavy vehicle traffic which crosses and pollutes the Loiret every day as well as the other departments crossed, including the Eure and Eure-et-Loir if heavy goods vehicles transit via the Chartres – Évreux road.