One-day French national strike to disrupt rail freight

A one-day general strike in France today over the rising cost of living is expected to bring some disruption to rail freight, according to one major operator. The strike is expected to be particularly widespread across the French rail network and also highly-localised in certain areas such as the Greater Paris region, a spokesperson for DB Cargo told RailFreight.com. Another blackspot could be on the Atlantic rail corridor, with the closure of the line in the proximity of Poitiers, in western France, a recognised bottleneck. “We are anticipating that most of the impact on our services from industrial action will come this evening,” thespokesperson said.

Ahead of the strike, few (freight train) cancellations had been confirmed and DB Cargo France was making numerous adjustments to its transport plans in collaboration with (French rail infrastructure manager) SNCF Réseau. It was also awaiting confirmation of the train paths that would be open in order to be able to provide a more accurate overview of the strike’s impact.

Among the train cancellations DB Cargo France has flagged to date are one service between Forbach (eastern France) and Irun, on the French-Spanish border,one service between Chalon (centre-east France) and Marseille-Fos, two services between Calais and Perpignan and one ‘combi’ service between Paris/Valenton-Metz (eastern France), the spokesperson noted. In addition to these, DB Cargo France has rescheduled two trains to run after the strike.

This story was originally published by RailFreight.com. Read the full story at RailFreight.com →