Fret SNCF, the French state-owned rail freight company, is officially a thing of the past. Two freshly established entities, Hexafret and Technis, respectively taking over operations and maintenance tasks, are now the new face of rail freight at SNCF.
The transition from Fret SNCF to Hexafret and Technis has not been without challenges, with many opposing voices and hundreds of jobs being cut. It all started with an investigation led by the European Commission (EC) into possible illegal state aid. The EC found that, between 2007 and 2019, the operator saw over 5 billion euros of debts being cancelled, which was deemed as market distortion.
To avoid heavy sanctions, the French government decided to implement a massive restructuring. This meant giving up combined transport services, which amounted to 20 per cent of the company’s traffic, and laying off around 500 workers. Many of these services were distributed among private operators, mostly DB Cargo France. Other connections, such as the one supplying the Rungis International Market in Paris, were discontinued and have yet to be reactivated.
Illegal state aid might remain
The discontinuation of Fret SNCF caused adverse reactions, especially from French trade unions. Things escalated at the end of 2024, with various unions calling for strikes to protest against the initiative. However, the impact of these strikes on rail freight remains limited, as two out of four unions decided to call them off.
On the other hand, some predict that replacing Fret SNCF with Hexafret and Technis will not necessarily end illegal state aid. Moreover, shifting the focus from combined transport to single wagonload services entails a costly business model for a not-so-profitable segment. It also needs to be noted that the French private sector might struggle to pick up the services that Fret SNCF has been forced to give up.
The issue with Technis’ name
In addition to these issues, there is also a problem with the name of one of the two new entities. The company taking over maintenance operations from Fret SNCF was named Technis. However, there is already a company with that name active in France, which did not take the news very well and pledged to fight it, especially since they already cooperated with the SNCF Group.