Par
Sebastien Lucot
Published on
Dec 9 2024 at 7:04 a.m.
See my news
Follow La Presse de la Manche
Eight. This is the number of level crossings listed between the station and the port from Cherbourg (Manche). So many places that pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and other users use every day. And so many places where Cherbourg residents have lost the habit of seeing traffic circulating trains for around twenty years and the advent of rail freight linked to the transit of new cars from the Japanese firm Toyota. “It will bring back a lot of memories,” smiles Patrice Martin, deputy mayor of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin in charge of roads.
In 2019, the Ports de Normandie joint union launched a call for expressions of interest in order to appoint the rail operator of the terminal multimodal on the port of Cherbourg, construction of which began in the summer of 2023 and which is about to be completed.
Between 10:45 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
Winner, the shipping company Brittany Ferries invested nearly 40 million euros in this project – including 19 million in state aid – to create a new piggyback line between Cherbourg and Mouguerre, near Bayonne (Pyrénées-Atlantiques). As a reminder, the objective being to remove 25,000 trailers from French roadsrepresenting nearly 10% of the Breton shipping company's freight traffic to England and Ireland.
At the port of Cherbourg, Ports de Normandie has committed 13 million euros, notably in the creation of the multimodal terminal, 4 million euros for the operator, SPL Cherbourg Port.
While waiting for the actual commissioning the 31 mars 2025 of this railway line connecting Cotentin to Spaintests are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of the track, recently reclassified by SNCF Réseau between the port and the station, a section that has not been used for 20 years.
Commissioning scheduled for March 31
For that, Tuesday December 10, 2024a first test train will cross the town of Cherbourg for around thirty minutes. “We have planned 45 minutes, between 10:45 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., in the event of a problem,” explains David Bonhomme, Normandy director of project management at SNCF Réseau.
Enough to easily disrupt road trafficalready often criticized. To avoid this, significant resources (police, firefighters, sub-prefecture, around thirty SNCF agents, etc.) will try to do everything possible to secure the Cherbourg level crossings as much as possible, which will see a train 550 meters long circulate on sight, that is to say at a speed less than 5 km/h. “This low speed is reserved for this test. When it is put into service, it will cross the city at 20 km/h, explains Jean Rampon, sub-prefect of Cherbourg. The idea is to have as measured an impact as possible. »
All call on fellow citizens to vigilance at the time of this test. And remember the basics of the Highway Code: “When the red lights flash, you stop. Even if the train only arrives 30 seconds later,” insists David Bonhomme, from SNCF Réseau. “If unfortunately a vehicle is blocked on a lane, you must accelerate and break the barriers, not abandon it. »
Return at 2:30 p.m.
The test train, coming straight from Île-de-France, will leave at the start of the afternoon, around 2:30 p.m. However, it will not paralyze the entire city since only the locomotive will leave, without its wagons, its length therefore increasing from 550 meters to 25 meters. A certain vigilance will however be necessary because the level crossings will no longer be monitored by the important device deployed earlier in the morning.
Another testing campaign in March
Another test campaignoperated by Brittany Ferries, will take place between March 19 and 25, 2025this time to test the Lohr system, from the eponymous Alsatian company, installed at the port. This pneumatic and hydraulic grounding tool should allow trailers to be oriented from the wagons and unloaded. As a reminder, 47 wagons were ordered by the railway operator for the sum of 22 million euros.
The latter, numbering 15 on Tuesday, will be 18 when the line opens, bringing the length of the trains to just over 600 meters. “At startup, there will be three round trips per week time for a rise in power. To wait for five, then six, if the market takes well,” confides Philippe Norindr, Cherbourg Mouguerre railway motorway (AFCM) project manager at Brittany Ferries.
Each train will leave in the evening around 7 p.m. from Cherbourg and Mouguerre, arriving at its destination the next day, around 11 a.m.
Follow all the news from your favorite cities and media by subscribing to Mon Actu.
