The two entities replacing the French rail freight operator Fret SNCF now have their official name. The company taking care of locomotive maintenance will be called Technis, while the new operator will be called Hexafret.
Both companies will take the place of Fret SNCF at the beginning of 2025. This restructuring is the result of an investigation carried out by the European Commission into illegal state aid to Fret SNCF. In order to avoid heavier sanctions from the Commission, the French government decided to undergo a major restructuring of Fret SNCF instead.
The new names were revealed by Fret SNCF in a LinkedIn video, but their new scopes have been known for a while now. Hexafret will pick up the rail freight operations left behind by Fret SNCF, which was forced to give up a significant number of routes to its private competitors. Technis, on the other hand, will be established to take care of the locomotive maintenance duties which used to belong to Fret SNCF.
What will the future hold?
The restructuring of Fret SNCF has been quite the hot topic in France. Despite the company’s transpired optimism about the situation, there are still doubts about this initiative, both from the political and industry sides. French Members of Parliament recently quizzed SNCF’s head Jean-Pierre Farandou about this very issue, with some labelling it as a questionable choice. Moreover, trade unions representing Fret SNCF workers have already asked for a moratorium on the company’s restructuring and already claimed to be ready to go on strike.