French quarry group Pigeon is choosing rail freight to reduce the environmental impact of its transport activities and optimise deliveries. Via subsidiary, Pigeon Granulats Loire Anjou (PGLA), it has invested 1.5 million euros in a rail loading facility in Laval, in western France. It will enable the hard rock used in road construction to be transported by rail to northern France and the Greater Paris region.
The aim is to ship between 150,000 and 200,000 tonnes of aggregates by rail each year. Traction is provided by Millet Rail, based in Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, near Tours, and its trains can transport loads of 1,500 tonnes, using 22 wagons. “It would take 50 trucks, travelling 300 kilometres to transport the same quantity,” Thierry Wojnowski, PGLA’s Operations Director, told French media.
“With rail freight, on the total flow, we estimate that CO2 emissions can be reduced by 2,000 tonnes. This development is in line with the Pigeon Group’s CSR approach, which aims to reduce its GHG emissions by 35 per cent by 2030,” he added. PGLA is also planning to replace the four truck-trailers that supply the rail loading facility with electric HGVs.
Pigeon Group
Pigeon, which has annual sales of 30 million euros and 70 employees, currently only delivers aggregates to the Lhotellier public works group in the Paris region. With the new rail freight service it is now looking to expand its customer base, notably in western and northern France. The family-owned group, generates annual sales of 500 million euros, employs 2,000 staff and operates 12 quarries.
French quarry groups shifting to rail
One of its peers, Carrières de l’Ouest, could be described as paving the way of French quarry groups into rail freight. In collaboration with France’s rail network manager SNCF Réseau and port authority, Haropa Port, it has developed a round-trip freight system focusing on the transport by train of aggregates from its quarries in western France to construction sites in the Greater Paris region.
Return journeys carry excavated materials to be used as a landfill in quarries. To support the service, Carrières de l’Ouest has developed open-top containers suitable for rail and road transport. The group’s freight forwarding arm, Cinérites Transport & Logistique, has also set up a multimodal freight terminal at the inland port of Bonneuil on the river Marne near the French capital to facilitate the transport of aggregates by rail.
Last year, also saw aggregates specialist Carrières de Vignats lay the foundation stone for a multimodal freight terminal that will allow the transport of construction feedstock from western France to the Greater Paris region by rail and river. Attracting investment of 18 million euros, it is scheduled for completion in the first half of 2025.