Relaunching rail freight: mission impossible?

Laurent Chalard is a geographer and works at the European Center for International Affairs. Find him on his personal blog.

FIGAROVOX.- What is the “rail reconquest” promised by Jean Castex?

Laurent CHALARD.-By definition, when we speak of “winning back” in a domain, it means that it has suffered a significant decline in recent years. However, concerning the rail sector in France, if passenger traffic has doubled since the end of the post-war boom thanks to the TGV, on the other hand, for freight traffic, the reverse has happened since it has halved since 1974, when it reached its maximum with 74 billion tonne-kilometers transported. It follows that the share of rail in freight traffic has collapsed in recent decades, global traffic having increased strongly, mainly due to the explosion of international transit following the opening up of Europe. In fact, in 2017, according to data from the SDES, out of an internal land traffic of 359 billion tonne-kilometers, the railways only transported 33.4 billion, or less than 10%, while this share was still by 19% in 1990 and that at its peak in the 1920s, before the generalization of the truck, up to 75% of the goods were transported by rail. Accordingly, the"Rail reconquest" promised by Jean Castex aims to reverse a structural trend of decline, by attempting to double its modal share by 2030, hence a number of announcements to achieve this objective such as the exemption of tolls (but temporary), financial aid for existing lines or the creation of new rail highways.

We have been talking about reviving rail freight for several years ... without any results. For what reasons?

Indeed, this is not the first time that a government has proposed to relaunch rail freight, almost making the appearance of a “sea serpent” in French transport policy. Indeed, in 2000, the government of Lionel Jospin already promised to double in 10 years the traffic of goods by rail, which was to reach 100 billion tonne-kilometers in 2010, with a resounding failure as a result, since on the same date, the actual traffic was 33.8 billion tonne-kilometers ... Then, during the Grenelle de l'Environnement in 2009, under the government of François Fillon, rebelotte, the objective being to increase the share rail freight at 25% in 2022, without result, again, the key, since in 2017, this share remains below 10%. Jean Castex's proposals therefore appear to be “déjà vu”. We can also wonder if there is really a desire to relaunch rail freight in France, or if we just have periodic announcement effects to give a "bone to gnaw", to use an expression dear to our new Prime Minister, to environmentalists when they have the wind in their sails!

Be that as it may, there are many reasons for this failure to revive rail freight, but the main one, in a liberal European economic system, is the issue of cost. Indeed, companies think above all in financial terms. However, at present, road freight transport appears to be more profitable than rail transport in France and this should remain so as long as there is no tax on the former, a solution that meets with very strong opposition, such as This was evidenced by the Bonnets Rouges movement in 2013 following the government's eco-tax project. At the same time, the infrastructure is not sufficiently developed or fully adapted to be able to compete effectively with the road. Indeed, the French territory is covered with highways and expressways which allow trucks to quickly reach any point of the country, while the traffic of goods by rail can only be carried out on a reduced number of axes being entirely dedicated to it, sharing most of the other lines with passenger trains, which generally have priority. In addition, the issue of quality of service should not be underestimated, which does not meet contractors' expectations, whether in terms of equipment or punctuality, not to mention the impact of strikes, which are considered too systematic in France. . So we are essentially dealing with a problem of competitiveness of rail compared to road.

Jean Castex also announced the creation of rail motorways (Bayonne-Cherbourg, Sète-Calais, and the reopening of the Perpignan-Rungis line). Can these revitalize exchanges between certain territorial areas?

This is not the first time that a government has announced the creation of rail motorways, several already in existence, such as the Alpine rail motorway. As these highways are intended primarily to place trucks in international transit on trains, their impact in terms of revitalizing trade can only prove to be very limited, since it is mainly a modal shift. The only areas that can potentially benefit economically are those housing the new terminals, leading to the strengthening of their port function when they are maritime (Cherbourg, Sète) and / or seeing the development of logistics activity zones, in keeping in mind that increasing activity in one place may come at the expense of another. Indeed, some medium-sized towns located on motorway intersections or major international communication axes, such as the Rhône valley, have greatly benefited from the development of road freight transport. Consequently, the reinforcement of rail freight cannot be presented as a major economic issue, except in times of crisis, the rail highways having been very useful during containment. It is above all an environmental issue.

Is there a geographic issue? In his book Le carnet du train jaune, Jean Castex notably evoked how rail policy has shaped the destiny and geography of his department, the Pyrénées-Orientales…

Prime Minister Jean Castex is absolutely right when he talks about the fact that transport infrastructures shape the geography of territories, whether it is the rail network in the 19th century, or the motorway network in the second half of the 20th century. However, concerning rail freight, we cannot really speak of a geographic issue since it is not a question of building new transport infrastructure, but of improving a dying existing one. If Jean Castex really wants to reduce hexagonal territorial imbalances, he will have to be more ambitious, moving from sectoral logics, which are currently dominant in the functioning of the central state (the ministries are organized by theme), to a territorial logic, that is to say interministerial. It is a global change of mentality to be carried out within the elites, based on a better knowledge of the diversity of the hexagonal geography and of its great territorial dynamics, which evolve over time. Indeed, given the increasingly rapid changes in the global economy, a region at the forefront of development twenty years ago may very well find itself in decline today. For this policy to take shape, it would be appropriate, among other things, for Jean Castex to free himself from the questionable divisions of INSEE, which forge the representations of the elites, giving a biased vision of French territory, supposed to be almost totally urbanized, which is far from being the case. Rurality, if it is no longer the majority, remains very significant in our country.