A fact as seemingly simple as that a freight train from the port of Barcelona could reach French cities such as 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 relented and gave the green light to permits that allowed the routes from Barcelona to Lyon and Marseille to be restored , lost since the public French company SNCF broke the cooperation agreement with its Spanish counterpart.
In the case of goods, the trains leaving the port of Barcelona traveled on the high-speed line, crossed the Pertús tunnel and in Perpignan they had no choice but to change to another locomotive or transship the containers. The operational and logistical difficulties to achieve this have not made it easy. Once the French rail infrastructure manager loosened the rope, Captrain's Stadler Euro6000 locomotive (of the SNCF group) has been approved to operate in the two 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 will arrive at the terminals in the south of France.
The first train of the new direct link for containers with France left yesterday around nine in the morning from the BEST terminal in the port of Barcelona. It was the start of a route that will be repeated four times a week: three in Toulouse and one in 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 have also participated, which in turn will allow cargo to be connected from from Toulouse to Bordeaux, where the door to the Atlantic opens.
Seamless connectivity is a significant time and money saver for logistics companies as travel time is reduced. At the same time, the modal shift is a fundamental element for saving emissions because, according to those in charge of the port, rail transport generates ten times less emissions than by road, while at the same time reducing congestion on the AP-7 . It is estimated that up to 800 trucks can be removed from the highway each week.
"It is a step forward in the decarbonisation of logistics activity", celebrated the president of the port of Barcelona, Lluís Salvadó, at the launch of the route, convinced that "from now on it will be possible offer a better service". Guillermo Belcastro, executive president of Hutchison Ports BEST, emphasized 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 was greatly celebrated by all parties involved, as it is the first purely direct freight train connection between Spain and France. The port of the Catalan capital is the only Spanish port that has a connection to the Europe-wide network, opened at the end of 2010. In the future, the works on the Mediterranean corridor must make it possible to achieve what Barcelona has now achieved do from Tarragona, Valencia, Cartagena or Algeciras. "We must continue to work so that the railway is, in fact, a reality, we must get many more trains and not stop here", emphasized the general manager 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 runs through Spain with a convoy that reaches 750 meters, the maximum length allowed in Europe. This measure has so far only been used to transport cars. The new addition will make it possible to go from the 68 TEU on average that move the trains of between 450 and 500 meters that currently run to 108 TEU per journey. It is the path towards which the sector is evolving despite the fact that in the case of Spain the infrastructure is barely ready due to the lack of dividers in the railway network.
