‘Unprecedented’ removal and repair operation

The service had been operating five weekly round-trips when a train composed of 17 Modalohr-type wagons  derailed on a section of the Cherbourg-Caen rail line just 50 kilometers into its journey of almost 1,000 kilometres. Cleanup operations were described at the time by SNCF Réseau as an operation “of unprecedented scale in France” and one which mobilised a team of 100 engineers and technicians.

Major repairs of the track and rail infrastructure followed. In total, putting the line back in working order was estimated to have cost 10 million euros. Brittany Ferries introduced a backup solution during the two month hiatus in the combi service. It consisted of operating a freight-only ferry service between Poole, in south-west England and Bilbao.

Increase in frequencies

The derailment was an untimely blow to a service inaugurated as recently as July 2025. It raised fears that the company risked losing its ‘combi’ customer base and that other road hauliers would be deterred from considering a modal shift from truck to train. However, the service has resumed with six departures weekly from Cherbourg and seven from Bayonne/Mouguerre – an increase in the number of frequencies operated pre-derailment.

So far, eight of the 17 derailed wagons and 15 of 34 semi-trailers were recovered. The situation is a little more complicated for the remaining ones, as they are located near a rail bridge. This operation should be completed by mid-February, allowing for the restart of traffic along one track, according to the French IM.

Six weeks until full reopening

Six weeks later, at the end of March, the full line should be back in full operation. Throughout this time, SNCF Réseau’s workers will be quite busy. They’ll have to completely rebuild the line along 530 metres, replace four catenary posts, 1,250 metres of overhead line and a switch and reinforce the infrastructure for 700 metres. These operations will involve 40 operators and three trains.

If passengers will get replacement bus services between Cherbourg and Lison, Brittany Ferries had to think outside the box to keep freight moving. The goods, which usually reach Cherbourg from the UK via ferry and then the French Basque Countries by rail, will simply continue their sea journey to Bilbao. This service is supposed to last at least until the end of January, Brittany Ferries said. It remains to be seen whether the new reopening schedule will change their plans.

The solution was necessary to avoid excessive storage of spent fuel in the cooling pools at each French power plant. “It is very important to transport spent fuel regularly to La Hague and with this temporary solution, we will be able to maintain the operational conditions of French nuclear power plants.” The first train will run this week.

Questions that must be answered

For radioactivity monitoring group ACRO, lessons must be learned from the derailment, the causes of which have yet to be disclosed. “If Orano were located in the middle of France, it would undoubtedly be less complicated. The big problem is that the reprocessing facility has been built on a completely or almost completely isolated peninsula,” noted its president, Pierre Barbey.

For him, the incident has raised a number of questions. “What would have happened if the flatbed rail wagons had been transporting highly radioactive fuel packages that day?’ he asked, adding that he was determined to obtain a response from state energy utility EDF and Orano on how they manage the risks associated with this type of transport. “This derailment should really make us sit up and take notice. We have questions and these questions must be answered,” Barbey concluded.

Orano inaugurated a plant at the port of Cherbourg just over a year ago and is now behind a project to rehabilitate an abandoned one kilometer stretch of track in its vicinity which will provide access to the mainline rail network and take advantage of the port’s new intermodal terminal. The group is planning to ship its products by train to a terminal at another group plant located around 20 kilometers away in Valognes. Orano is contributing the lion’s share of the 600,000 euros investment required for the track’s renovation with the port authority also contributing.

The ‘combi’ service between Cherbourg and Bayonne-Mouguerre had been operating five weekly round-trips and the derailed convoy was composed of 17 Modalohr-type wagons with double pockets, carrying 34 unaccompanied trailers. No information on the investigation into the causes of the derailment – thought to have been completed last week – has been disclosed.

Cleanup operations continue

The lifting and removal of the derailed train and its wagons and trailers has been described by SNCF Réseau, France’s rail infrastructure manager as an operation “of unprecedented scale in France” and which has mobilized a team of 100 engineers and technicians. The first wagons were lifted from the tracks on Friday, 16 January. Once the removal of the convoy has been completed, major track repair work will have to be carried out, SNCF Réseau said.

This will mainly concern the catenary wires and their supports over a distance of more than 100 metres, as well as the rails, sleepers and structures affected over a distance of more than 500 metres. The track repair work is expected to last at least three weeks. Clearly, the derailment is a major blow to a service launched less than a year ago and which has benefited from significant public and private investment.

Brittany Ferries had been aiming to increase the number of weekly round trips to six or seven in 2026 while also outlining plans too to carry fresh fruit and vegetables on the rail highway service as well as cosmetics and perfumes. While its future is hardly in doubt, the real challenge will be to retain its current customer base as well as hoping this kind of incident will not deter other shippers and road hauliers from considering a modal shift to rail.

“Once the lifting operation is complete, major track repair work will have to be carried out. This will mainly concern the catenary wires and their supports over a distance of more than 100 metres, as well as the rails, sleepers and structures affected over a distance of more than 500 metres.” The track repair work is expected to take at least three weeks. The diagnosis, which is still ongoing, will enable a more precise timetable for the resumption of service to be determined, the spokesperson added. One of the immediate concerns facing Brittany Ferries is the operation to return the trailers that were part of the derailed convoy to customers.

Rail highway launched only last year

Moreover, the sudden suspension of the service could have led to a build-up of trailers at the Cherbourg ‘combi’ terminal which arrived at the port aboard the ferry operator’s Ro-Ro vessels from the UK and Ireland. But this has not been confirmed. Approached by RailFreight.com, a spokesperson for Brittany Ferries said the company was not able to comment on such issues at this stage.

Clearly, the derailment is an untimely blow to a service launched less than a year ago. Brittany Ferries had also been been aiming to increase the number of weekly round trips to six or seven in 2026. The company had outlined plans too to carry fresh fruit and vegetables on the rail highway service as well as cosmetics and perfumes. While its future is hardly in doubt, the real challenge will be to retain its current customer base as well as hoping this kind of incident will not deter other road hauliers from considering a modal shift to rail.

Despite the train’s derailment the trailers it was transporting are reported to have remained more or less upright. However, the delicate removal operation could take several days. Contacted by RailFreight.com, a spokesperson for Brittany Ferries said investigations have been underway since yesterday to determine the cause of the derailment, adding that it was too early to say exactly how long the service will be suspended for.

Brittany Ferries’ rail highway

Each train is currently composed of 18 Modalohr-type wagons with double pockets, allowing 36 unaccompanied trailers to be transported and loaded and unloaded using specialised horizontal handling facilities. After an initial launch in May 2025 and an official inauguration in July, the service suffered a three-week interruption in August due to work to extend the tracks, electrify and upgrade the combi terminal in Mouguerre.

The service, which covers a distance of almost 1,000 kilometers, operates five return trips per week. Brittany Ferries has not disclosed any information on the train operating from Bayonne-Mouguerre to Cherbourg which, if it had set out on its journey, would not be able to reach its scheduled destination for the time being. Capacity is expected to increase to 21 wagons (42 trailers) in 2026.

It covers a distance of almost 1,000 kilometers and operates five weekly return trips. Each train is currently composed of 18 Modalohr-type wagons with double pockets, allowing 36 unaccompanied trailers to be transported and loaded and unloaded using specialised horizontal handling facilities. However, capacity is expected to increase to 21 wagons (42 trailers) in 2026.

Expansion plans

Earlier this month, Brittany Ferries’ confirmed to RailFreight.com that it was looking to expand the range of goods the rail highway was transporting, one potential market being perishables shipments between Spain and the UK to stimulate. “We are counting on the fruit and vegetable export season, which runs from mid-October to the end of May, to the UK,” Fabrice Turquet, commercial director for the Iberian market at Brittany Ferries, underlined. There are also plans to handle hazardous goods, in the first instance, small quantities of cosmetics and perfumes.

Each train is currently composed of 18 Modalohr-type wagons with double pockets, allowing 36 unaccompanied trailers to be transported and loaded and unloaded using specialised horizontal handling facilities. However, capacity is expected to increase to 21 wagons (42 trailers) in 2026.

No customer lost

In an interview with local media, Fabrice Turquet, commercial director for the Iberian market at Brittany Ferries, was keen to point out that no customers had been lost as a result of the interruption of the service and that they continued to be satisfied with the reliability and punctuality it offered. His comments were confirmed to RailFreight.com by a company spokesperson. Its main customers are drawn from several European countries who specialise in the industrial, food and automotive sectors.

‘Ambitious’ goal of 6/7 weekly round trips

He revealed that reaching Cherbourg-Bayonne rolling highway eyes perishables, hazardous goods, as well as an average train occupancy rate of 70% from October onwards, remains an “ambitious” goal, but one that Brittany Ferries is bent on achieving. The company is also aiming to increase round trips to six to seven weekly in 2026. “It’s important for us that volumes increase fairly quickly,” he added.

Demand for freight transport on the UK-Iberian Peninsula route is mainly one-way, exports travelling from south to north. “We are counting on the fruit and vegetable export season, which runs from mid-October to the end of May, to the UK,” Turquet underlined.

The ferry company is also finalising processes to be able to carry hazardous goods on the combi service, in the first instance, in small quantities. “Cosmetics and perfumes fall into this category,” he said. Marketed as a sustainable freight transport solution, the service will result in up to 30,000 fewer trucks on the road on an annual basis and a reduction of 20,000 tonnes of CO2.

In total, the six weekly round trips add up to 24,000 trucks removed from France’s roads annually. There are around 50,000 trucks that pass through the Cherbourg port each year. It also saves on 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. “It demonstrates how rail freight offers a credible and concrete alternative to road transport, even on domestic flows”, Captrain says.

Connecting markets

The rail highway project between Cherbourg and Bayonne was first unveiled in early 2020. After years of planning, infrastructure upgrades, and pandemic-related delays, the service is now underway. It connects France’s Atlantic corridor with key ferry ports serving the UK, Ireland and Spain.

In order to make this service a reality, France had to install two new rail-road terminals at both ends of the routes. Moreover, the Port of Cherbourg needed a renewed connection to the national network, after a 20-year hiatus.

Rail back at Cherbourg port after two decades

The project has entailed the construction of two combined rail-road terminals as well as work to link the Port of Cherbourg to France’s national rail network. This has involved the upgrade of a 2.5-kilometre section of track with the installation of additional points for access to the port and the renewal of sleepers and ballast. Brittany Ferries has received financial support from the (French) state, the European Union and the regional public authorities of Normandy and Nouvelle Aquitaine to launch the service.

Each train will be composed of 21 Modalohr-type wagons with double pockets, allowing 42 unaccompanied trailers to be transported and loaded and unloaded using specialised horizontal handling facilities. However, in the first phase of operations, convoys are expected to be limited to 18 wagons (36 trailers) as the full capacity of the Bayonne-Mouguerre terminal will not be attained until upgrade works are completed in 2026.

The service is marketed as a sustainable freight transport solution, taking up to 30,000 trucks off the road on an annual basis, resulting in a reduction of 20,000 tonnes of CO2. The launch of the rolling highway service will be a significant milestone for the port of Cherbourg, which has not seen regular rail freight services for around 20 years. Toyota cars were transited by ro-ro carrier from the UK to Cherbourg before being transferred onto trains for distribution in Europe.