Constituent meeting in Vitoria of the Hispano-French working group for improving railway connections between the two countries

As was announced by the Minister for Public Works a few weeks ago, the meeting tackled the establishment of "rail motorway" services between the two countries. Following the previously defined roadmap, authorisation was given for the joint issue of "calls for expression of interest" from rolling stock manufacturers and those related to the implementation of services in the Atlantic and Mediterranean corridors. This will provide an image of the market as well as define the service characteristics and the optimum business model.

The term "rail motorway" refers to the railway freight transportation services carried in specialised carriages on the network by either trucks and their (semi-)trailers (accompanied transport) or simply the (semi-)trailers (unaccompanied transport) of a standard size with a high service frequency and under easy access conditions for road haulage carriers.

These services comprise a combined transport segment of road-rail transport - given that trains can also be filled with freight of another nature (mobile crates, containers, commercial vehicles, etc.) - and are complementary to the transportation of goods directly by road insofar as that their use by shippers does not require any specific adaptation of the trucks.

During this initial stage, the response from manufacturers must be to define the various aspects of the proposed technical solution in sufficient detail, including:

• a) Technical characteristics of the rolling stock (nature - either tractor and trailer or trailer only, terms of use, dimensions, admissible cargo, maximum travelling speed, compatibility with railway gauges, etc.) and freight (dimensions, restrictions, etc.).
• b) Terminal characteristics specifically required by the proposed rolling stock for operation of the services, installations and necessary equipment, estimated cost, operation method and limitations, etc., while considering compositions of 750, 850 and 1,000 metres in length.
• c) Information on the proportion of existing vehicles that operate by road - across the border between the two countries - that could be transported in the carriages based on the characteristics of the proposal defined in Section a).
• d) Information on the possibilities to adapt the material and the limitations on the composition of trains of various lengths.
• e) Information on the status of administrative procedures related to these materials (authorisation for launch of commercial service, compatibility certificates with railway infrastructure) and forecast reception dates, as appropriate.
• f) References from the manufacturers regarding these materials and description of the uses made thereof: services provided, operators, train characteristics (number of carriages, mass, length), weekly services and annual flows transported, etc.
• g) Information on the commercialisation, production and cost of the proposed solution vis-à-vis the future service operators.

This first call regarding the material will be issued immediately via the publication thereof in the official national and European bulletins, and responses must be received within three months. Following the receipt and analysis of proposals by the two States, a second call will begin during the third quarter of this year, in which those parties possibly interested in operating the rail motorway services will be able to further detail the specific characteristics of their proposal bearing in mind the results published on the rolling stock.

This meeting also tackled other technical issues of interest for improving railway operation for passengers and freight, through both possible actions on the infrastructure and possible joint initiatives to improve network management. Furthermore, the actions forecast on the French network over the coming years were also announced given the interest therein for international traffic.

The two delegations welcomed the recent presentation of a joint request for European funding for the international railway connection between Canfranc and Pau, which took place in February as part of the call for European funding applications (CEF), thus ratifying the interest from both States in the project to resume international traffic along this line.

Finally, the meeting also allowed for the confirmation of normality in the operation of the international section between Figueres and Perpignan during these first months since the joint company LFP, S.A. assumed responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the railway connection in December, as well as for the monitoring of the priority projects that will enable increased railway traffic along this route.