Over the last couple of decades, trains have steadily lost ground to lorries to transport goods from one end to the other. And while trucks are more convenient, as they enable more flexible point-to-point operation, they are also significantly more carbon-polluting. In France though, the freight train is on its way to make a comeback.
In a bid to help the country reduce its carbon footprint, France’s prime minister Jean Castex recently vowed to develop “railway highways” to carry food and other goods that now go by truck. “This is a very strong signal the government is giving and it’s a first step in the comeback of railway freight,” said Castex.
As part of the project, the “fresh food train” linking the main wholesale market in Paris to the southern city of Perpignan would reopen after that line was closed last year, and the line would eventually be connected to a broader European line between Belgium and Spain.
Freight trains will be able to use the country’s railway infrastructure for free until the end of the year and the fee they normally pay will be halved in 2021. The Transport ministry later said those fee measures would cost 63 million euros ($74.02 million) a year.
