The new president of France’s multi-modal transport association, the Groupement National des Transports Combinés (GNTC), Rémy Crochet, has highlighted good quality train paths as the priority if road hauliers are to be attracted to rail.

He said this was fundamental to initiating a massive modal shift favouring rail and waterways.

“Therefore, this will be our focus, but not be the only one. France can no longer remain on the sidelines of Europe when it comes to the P400 gauge, so we will be lobbying to ensure that the work allowing four meter-high road trailers to travel on all the major routes on the network is completed as quickly as possible,” he underlined in an interview with French media.

The stakes are high

Crochet is president and CEO of Froid Combi, a company based in southern France specialising in controlled temperature logistics services for fruit and vegetables between production centres and wholesale markets. His 30-year career in the ‘combi’ sector also includes spells with several other operators, including CNC, Naviland Cargo, Rail Link Europe and Greenmodal.

Having commended the work of his predecessor Ivan Stempezynski and that of current director Aurélien Barbé, Crochet underlined that much remains to be done to improve combined transport and attract new customers to the sector.

“The stakes are high because the objective remains the same: to triple the sector’s activity by 2030. This ambition can only be achieved if we succeed in significantly increasing the number of our members. But we are not alone. We are committed to working in close collaboration with the rail freight industry body, Alliance 4F,” he emphasised.

Finally, Crochet said he would work to ensure that the Ulysse and Remove projects—the first a multi-year, multi-billion investment programme to drive rail freight growth and the second aimed at accelerating the use of mass transit modes (river, rail, short-sea cabotage) instead of road—provide combined transport with the resources it needs to develop.