Yanick Paternotte,
Chairman of Euro Carex and Member of French Parliament (Assemblée Nationale)

AN INNOVATIVE FREIGHT TRANSPORT SERVICE ON THE EXISTING EUROPEAN HIGH SPEED RAIL NETWORK

Since 2006, local authorities, managers of airport and rail infrastructures and actors in air freight have come together to develop a European high-speed freight rail service connected to airport and logistical centers.

The goal is to promote the emergence by 2015-2017 of a rail service using the existing European high speed network, allowing for a modal transfer from trucks and short- and medium-range flights to high-speed trains for the transport of air containers and pallets. The Carex Project can thus be seen as an alternative to road and air transport for pre- and post-routing runs of between 300 and 800 kilometers in Europe. Its end goal is to enhance the protection of the environment, the tranquility of local residents, economic development and job creation at all of the sites served.

In addition to the major technical factors (rolling stock, slots, air-rail-road terminals, operation & organisation ...), the economic aspects are primordial for the success of the project. The volumes identified within the framework of the market studies carried out locally by the Carex sites will make it possible to reach an average fill rate on the order of 57%. This must be improved by seeking additional volumes with new potential clients/shippers, who only use road transport at present for reasons of cost and flexibility. The objective is to reach a result of 75%, or even 85%.

A decisive meeting on the future of the "CAREX" project was held on the 24^th of November 2011. The purpose of this meeting, which brought together the main political, economic and industrial players in the affair, was to provide the various partners present with the necessary information for making decisions about their respective commitments: investors, operators, logistics operators, customers etc. Two market surveys were awaited with particular anticipation:

 

• The aim of one of them, commissioned by the "EURO CAREX" federation and carried out by the Belgian ETS market research company, was to consolidate the heterogeneous flow data produced by the previous surveys carried out on the different CAREX sites known as Railports in order to extract from them the traffics potentially transferable to the "CAREX" service. This extremely complicated exercise is currently being completed and should result, in a second phase, in the drawing up of a transport plan.

 

• The other survey, carried out by the Frost and Sullivan market research company and commissioned by a consortium made up of SNCF Geodis and Eurotunnel, demonstrated that night flight flows are the essential basis for the "CAREX" project. These flows are mainly made up of high value added "express" flows with high qualitative requirements, particularly in terms of adhering to transport deadlines.

 

The additional flows exist; the Railports are locally in the process of inventorying the potential markets. This process involves developing relations with Germany in order to convince Frankfurt and/or Cologne to join the project, as these two airports are considered to be major ones. All of the partners involved - local authorities, airport management companies, industrial air freight companies - made contacts with European authorities to confirm their interest in this project, to convince them of its importance, and to find financial support, both for the investments and for help in starting up the service. The project is already supported by regional and national governments in each country wich will contribute to the investment for the rail terminals and connections.

ñññ

"CAREX" is one of the 260 environmental projects recorded at the "Grenelle Environment Forum". Its purpose is to substitute dedicated trains running on the high speed rail networks for the airlines' "Air and Road" freight activities. It is also politically and financially supported by the public authorities in the different countries concerned.

EURO CAREX – FEBRUARY 2012