MPs in France push to connect all logistics sites to the railways

A French Parliamentary bill aimed at developing rail freight has been tabled by a group of MPs which, if passed into law, would oblige all logistics sites in France to be rail-connected. Companies failing to comply would be subject to the payment of an environmental transition tax.

The backdrop to the proposal is to restore equity and fair competition with road transport, as set out in a French Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry report published at the start of the year which made 28 recommendations. It noted “the persistent obstacles to the development of rail freight due to economic, social and fiscal distortions that favour road freight, as well as a lack of political ambition”.

According to the Parliamentary bill tabled last week, “it is possible to transport goods as close as possible to their destination by rail. This requires a complete overhaul of the logistics of road freight transport, which is currently guided solely by very short-term economic interests, leading to a virtual monopoly of the road haulage mode. In France, there are more than 2,800 temporary sidings serving manufacturing plants and businesses, of which only 1,000 are in use.”

How would it work?

To develop the use of rail, the bill stipulates that “any project for the construction of a warehouse or logistics hub must entail a connection to the rail network. In the absence of such provision, the competent administrative authority could neither authorise the project nor issue planning permission.” For existing warehouses and platforms that are not rail-connected, feasibility studies (to become rail freight-equipped) would be undertaken within a year of the bill being passed.

Firms operating non-compliant logistics facilities would pay a ‘green’ levy on profits subject to corporation tax. For example, companies with profits of up to 42,500 euros would be taxed at a rate of 0.01 per cent. At the other end of the scale, this would rise to 5 per cent of profits of between 143,438 and 1,4 million euros subject to corporation tax and to 50 percent of profits in excess of that.

Will it go through?

As to the likelihood of the Parliamentary bill being passed, one can anticipate considerable opposition from the logistics operators whose distribution networks relies heavily on road haulage and where the cost of integrating railheads into future hubs and adapting existing ones would be significant. However, there is certainly political support for development of rail freight in France.

Earlier this year, French senator Nicole Bonnefoy criticised shippers for dragging their feet on moving goods by train and proposed making the modal shift from road to rail compulsory when the infrastructure to accommodate such a move exists. She pointed to her own département of Charente, in centre-west France, which produces several million bottles of cognac every year.

Local rail freight facilities are unused she claimed “because of the inertia of cognac producers, shippers and railway companies. This situation is desperate in terms of our decarbonisation objectives. Some cognac merchants are even promoting the use of sailboats in the near future (for shipments) ! In the meantime, the Cognac-Le Havre rail line, which is in good working order and can be used, has been abandoned.”