‘2024 was a stagnating year for French rail freight’

The Frejus Railway will finally reopen at the end of March, hopefully bringing some relief to much of the rail freight industry in France and Italy after one and a half year. RailFreight.com had a chat with Alexandre Gallo, head of DB Cargo France and president of industry association AFRA, on this matter and much more.

What is your assessment of the French rail freight market in 2024?

Gallo: Last year, the market did not regain the momentum of 2021 and 2022. There are several reasons for this. First of all, we continued to recover from the catastrophic year that was 2023, with the strikes at SNCF in the Spring, rising energy prices, the economic crisis and the closure of the rail line between France and Italy via the Alps (following a major rock fall). As for 2024, I would qualify it as a year of stagnation. The line through the Maurienne Valley to Italy remained closed while the automo…