Announced as the last departure for Rungis, this Friday, June 28, the Train des primeurs did not leave the Saint-Charles market station in Perpignan. Another blow for this convoy supported by Catalan railway workers.
Like a dark symbol. The Primeurs Train has moved ahead of schedule. While the last connection between the Saint-Charles market station in Perpignan and Rungis was announced for this Friday, June 28, 2024 early in the afternoon, it remained at the quay. Without any cargo for what was to be its last trip before the summer. Its sole charterer preferred to bring forward the announced interruption of this Saint-Charles-Rungis line by 24 hours.
Until when? This is the whole question and especially the threats that mobilize the railway workers’ unions CGT, UNSA and FO gathered, once again, to plead the cause of a train “which, if it is preserved and modernized, is the beginning of an environmental and economic response to the more than 16,000 trucks which, every day, transit the highway in the Pyrénées-Orientales”, Mikaël Meusnier of the CGT railway workers is constantly campaigning. “We were not even informed of this non-departure this Friday,” he explains bitterly.
It is up to the SNCF, and therefore the State, to carry out this project
In the presence of the four candidates of the New Popular Front of the Pyrénées-Orientales, the railway workers demanded “a real project that exists economically. With a shipper who, for the moment, is ready to play the game. It is up to the SNCF, and therefore the State, to carry out this project. We must return to the dismemberment of the SNCF and the relaunch of SNCF Frêt and a real public service.”
In the meantime, work must be carried out at Rungis to increase and modernise the capacity of combined rail freight. An option which risks condemning the Train des primeurs, fear the railway unions. “The work at Rungis will replace the platforms currently used by the Train des primeurs with a combined terminal. A second combined terminal will also be created south of Rungis. During this work, the Train des primeurs will have to be interrupted one year before to resume”, assures the government. “What are these government commitments still worth?” replies Mikaël Meusnier, not sure of finding “his” Primeur Train.
