French rail freight began a new chapter in 2025 with the replacement of Fret SNCF with Hexafret and Technis. The new companies’ activities seem to be running smoothly for both staff and customers, according to Rail Logistics Europe (RLE). However, a spokesperson for the structure which groups all of SNCF’s rail freight subsidiaries, declined to disclose further details.
“The transition was prepared in advance with our teams and it went well. An update on the launch phase around mid-year will be more meaningful than commenting now after only two months of activity,” the spokesperson told Railfreight.com.
The terms and conditions laid down in the European Commission’s agreement with the French authorities on the discontinuity of Fret SNCF – it was suspected of receiving illegal aid from the country’s state railways running into several billions of euros – is that up to 49 per cent of RLE’s capital be opened up to outside investors.
Looking for a minority shareholder is not easy
“The Commission has not been explicit on the timeframe for the execution of this operation and we see it as a second phase development. The important thing will be to establish co-control of RLE in partnership with a minority shareholder. We’ll be able to say more about this issue in the second half of the year. For now, we’re still in the process of launching two new companies.”
The view from some market commentators is that potential investors in RLE may be put off by Hexafret’s poor profitability prospects, given the high operating costs and low margins in the single wagon load segment, the new company’s core business. However, the spokesperson played down such reasoning as it was the capital of RLE as a whole that would be opened up and not Hexafret’s solely.
“As far as Hexafret’s profitability is concerned, we are positive about its business plan and outlook, with a return to the level of Fret SNCF sales in 2025, thanks to work on our service offering and sales function, on structural costs, through identifying new growth markets and making strides in production to optimise our transit times”, the spokesperson concluded.