LFP Perthus to decrease tolls for freight trains by 90%

LFP Perthus, the Catalonia-based operator of the Figueras-Perpignan railway line, passing through the Perthus Tunnel between Spain and France, is to decrease tolls for all categories of freight train by 90 per cent. The new tolls are valid from the 2025 annual service which takes effect during December 2024.

LFP Perthus said the decrease will continue over the medium and long-term, subject to the usual annual revisions and the incentive mechanisms are unchanged. The decision comes following an agreement on public subsidies. Tolls through the Perthus Tunnel were estimated at between 300 euros and 700 euros per freight train, LFP Perthus indicated last year.

“After the opening of the line two nights per week, for freight trains, the possibility of making rolling stock maintenance facilities at LFP’s base in Llers (Spain) available to rail undertakings and the introduction of incentive mechanisms, all conditions are now met to facilitate rail freight,” the company said.

The Perthus Tunnel

The two-tube, 8,3 kilometre-long Perthus Tunnel under the Eastern Pyrenees entered service in December 2010. Built to accommodate both freight trains and high-speed passenger traffic, it also facilitates full interoperability between eligible trains on the Spanish and French networks. The tunnel is mostly used for rail freight services. According to figures communicated to Railfreight.com by LFP Perthus, 727 freight trains passed through the Tunnel in the first six months of the current year while for 2023 as a whole, the total was 1,404 freight trains.