France’s Open Modal Group has announced the commissioning of a state-of-the-art intermodal terminal for swap bodies and containers in Miramas, on the outskirts of Marseille. The terminal has attracted public and private investment estimated at almost 40 million euros.
“The Terminal Ouest Provence (TOP Terminal) is the fruit of five years of hard work, commented Jean-Claude Brunier, CEO and founder of the Group. “This decarbonised and digitalised terminal has been designed to provide its customers with the best possible service and working conditions for our employees. Open to all rail operators and companies, the TOP Terminal is a sign of our determination to actively contribute to developing combined road-rail transport in France,” he added.
Also read: Open Modal unveils plans for intermodal terminal near Marseille
Convenient location
The new terminal has been in operation since 22 April, and the first train to arrive was the Nancy-Miramas service on 25 April, followed by Lille-Avignon-Miramas and Bonneuil-Miramas, a spokesperson for Open Modal told Railfreight.com.
Open Modal highlighted the new combi terminal’s strategic location “at the crossroads of the Mediterranean and North Sea rail corridors.” The intermodal facility is built on a 14-hectare site at the Clésud logistics hub, which has 750,000 sim of warehousing and logistics facilities and is in proximity to the Port of Marseille.
A gate operating system controls and records incoming intermodal transport units (ITUs), a remote operating system manages the gantry cranes semi-automatically, and a terminal operating system determines the information to be communicated to truck drivers to ensure fluidity of operations, manage the stock of UTIs, allow movement traceability, and optimise the use of handling equipment.
Still some equipping work left
When fully equipped, it will comprise four 900-metre-long railway tracks, allowing four 850-metre-long trains to be handled simultaneously, two remote-controlled electric gantry cranes, two electric reach stackers, an electric road-rail shunter, and a storage area of 10,000 sqm. TOP will have the capacity to handle 68,000 UTIs annually.
“We will be receiving the gantries in May, and they will be installed over the summer so that they can start operating at the end of the summer. Delivery of the electric reach stackers is scheduled for July 2024, and we expect the terminal to be officially inaugurated in September once all the electrical equipment and gantries have been deployed,” the spokesperson added.