Something as seemingly simple as a freight train from the port of Barcelona being able to go directly to French cities like Toulouse and Lyon has been unthinkable for a long time. The reason was the same that prevented Renfe passenger trains from operating in France for months, until the neighboring country gave in and gave the green light to permits that allowed the routes from Barcelona to Lyon and Marseille to be recovered, lost since The French public company SNCF broke the cooperation agreement with its Spanish counterpart.
In the case of goods, the trains leaving the port of Barcelona circulated on the high-speed line, crossed the Pertús tunnel and in Perpignan they had no choice but to change for another locomotive or transfer containers. The operational and logistical difficulties to achieve this have not been easy. Once the French railway infrastructure manager has given in, the Stadler Euro6000 locomotive from Captrain (from the SNCF group) has obtained approval to operate in both countries and has facilitated this new direct connection, without interruptions or changes of tractor machines. . The same driver who leaves the port will be the one who arrives at the terminals in the south of France.
The first train of the new direct link for containers with France left today around nine in the morning from the BEST terminal in the port of Barcelona. It was the starting signal for a route that will be repeated four times a week: three to Toulouse and one to Lyon. The maritime transport multinational Maersk will be the operator in charge of the new rail service, an initiative in which APM Terminals Railway Spain, Sinergy (intermodal operator of Hutchison Ports BEST) and Naviland Cargo also participate, which in turn will allow cargo to be connected from Toulouse to Bordeaux, where the door to the Atlantic opens.
The seamless connection is a significant time and money saver for logistics companies. At the same time, the modal change is a fundamental element due to the savings in emissions it represents since, according to those responsible for the port, rail transport generates ten times fewer emissions than by road, while allowing congestion to be reduced in the AP. -7. It is estimated that up to 800 trucks can be taken off the highway each week.
“It is a step forward in the decarbonization of logistics activity,” celebrated the president of the Port of Barcelona, Lluís Salvadó, during the ceremony to launch the route, convinced that “from now on it will be possible to offer a Best service". Guillermo Belcastro, CEO of Hutchison Ports BEST, highlighted that the new connection is “a dream come true that changes the rules of the game”, as it allows “gaining a lot of value in operational, economic and environmental efficiency”.
The departure of the first train has been greatly celebrated by all parties involved as it is the first purely direct connection of freight trains between Spain and France. The port of the Catalan capital is the only Spanish one that has a connection to the European wide network, launched at the end of 2010. In the future, the works on the Mediterranean corridor should make it possible for the same things that Barcelona has now achieved to be done from Tarragona. , Valencia, Cartagena or Algeciras. “We must continue working to make the railway truly a reality, we must get many more trains and not stay here,” said the general director of APM Terminals Railway Spain, Xavier Moliné.
The new service is also a historic milestone for the port of Barcelona because it is the first regular container service that circulates through Spain with a convoy that reaches 750 meters, the maximum length allowed in Europe. This measure until now had only been achieved for carrying cars. The new addition will allow the average 68 TEU moved by trains between 450 and 500 meters that currently circulate to 108 TEU per trip. It is the path towards which the sector is evolving despite the fact that in the case of Spain the infrastructure is barely prepared for it due to the lack of sidings in the railway network.
