Do as airfreight does?
An initiative has been launched in France to bring overnight trains back to Europe’s railways. A study financed by French authorities, SNCF Réseau, and the Catalan rail operator FGC, has analysed the feasibility of running mixed passenger / freight trains.
Quite a few railway operators with long-standing traditions, including ÖBB, have been involved in efforts to revive trans-European overnight trains. The French owls grouped together in the Association Objectif Train de Nuit, established in June 2019, believe that other players that may still be hesitant about coming on board can be persuaded.
Looking to the skies raises a key question. What would aviation – even before the pandemic, and all the more so since – be without cargo? Without any co-loaded cargo most long-haul connections simply can’t be operated profitably.
Now the Association Objectif Train de Nuit has presented a new feasibility study, carried out by Rail Concept – and financed by the peripheral French regions Grand Est and Occitania; the network operator SNCF Réseau; and the Catalan rail enterprise Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya i Vallter (FGC). The study analyses whether mixed overnight passenger / freight trains running between Barcelona and Frankfurt are technically feasible without state subsidies.
Advantages of mixed overnight trains
There would appear to be some demand for ‘Luna Trains’. According to the association, 550 m trains would transport 300 travellers and 13 railfreight wagons a night between the Mediterranean and the German river Main, via the Rhône and the Rhine valleys. Cars and lorries have long faced bottlenecks on the roads on the same routes.
Looking at the cargo potential of the undertaking, we can see that it would be able to transfer a total of approximately 19,000 – 30,000 intermodal transport units a year from the roads to the railways. As a comparison, the rolling motorway between Bettembourg (Luxembourg) and Le Boulou (on the Franco-Spanish border) managed to transfer 60,000 units in 2018.
The study has also calculated an income and expenditure projection for the project, and concluded that passengers would contribute EUR 12.3 million and freight EUR 25.2 million. Expenditure would come to EUR 36.3 million, leaving a margin of 3%. This appears to be rather slim – but if passengers and cargo were to take separate trains, then the study envisages a deficit of EUR 2.7 million. “Combining the two, cuts costs per kilometre, and makes sure freight customers can bank on regular departures,” according to association president Eric Boisseau.
The limits of a good idea
To keep up, the railfreight wagons would have to travel at a speed of 160 km / h. Today, railfreight trains generally travel no faster than 120 km / h. Boisseau doesn’t consider this an insurmountable hurdle; railfreight trains have already travelled at 200 km / h in earlier eras in France.
That’s not the only practical problem, however. Passengers would have to accept detours to railfreight yards and additional stops en route, whilst cargo operators may not be keen on sharing their night-time slots with passenger trains. Simple solutions aren’t always a sign of genius, but now the idea has been launched it may take off (again).