DB Cargo France is ready to resume services when the Frejus Railway between France and Italy re-opens at the end of this month after a 19-month hiatus due to a major rockfall in the Maurienne Valley. However, the company is likely to return to the Alpine route with a significantly reduced frequency, CEO Alexandre Gallo told Railfreight.com in an interview.
“The re-opening is still scheduled for 31 March but at the moment we don’t have a complete picture on our planning. We had 36 trains a week on this route before the closure and I think we’ll only be starting up again with a dozen trains weekly or so until the end of the year,” he said. “Customers on this route tend to be committed to rail, but some have had to make commitments to road hauliers and will not return to rail until early- 2026.”
DB Cargo France’s intermodal services on the route are likely to gradually resume with three weekly round trips instead of five previously, Gallo explained. As for the company’s trains transporting new vehicles, the number will be reduced mainly because of the downturn in the automotive market, he added. In an interview with Railfreight.com in January this year, Gallo said DB Cargo France had taken a significant financial hit from the closure of the France-Italy mainline, estimating the cost in lost revenue over the period since end-August 2023 at nearly 15 million euros.
New services postponed
After the news in November 2024 of the company closing hubs and handing over traffic to SNCF’s new rail freight subsidiary, Hexafret, this year the accent is on expansion. However, the launch of two intermodal services which were planned for early-2025 – one linking Metz and Nancy in eastern France with Valenton, near Paris and a second between Valenton and Daventry, in Northamptonshire, England, via the Channel Tunnel – were “a little behind schedule.”
He continued: “The Metz-Paris service starts on 30 June and it will be September for the other route.” Asked how the first quarter of the year had played out for DB Cargo France in particular and for the French market in general, Gallo replied: “I’d say in line with our forecasts. It’s still a bit early to get an idea of where the market is.”