Terminus for Fret SNCF. The leader in rail freight transport in France will be replaced by two new companies in 2025, with 10% fewer employees, to the great dismay of the unions who are preparing their response. Explanations.
Why will Fret SNCF disappear?
This is the culmination of almost two years of crisis within the public company, targeted by a European Commission procedure since the beginning of 2023. The Commission then opened an investigation against the French State, suspected of having paid aid considered illegal to Fret SNCF between 2005 and 2019, for an amount estimated at 5 billion euros. Rail freight has in fact been open to competition since 2006 in France and aid must benefit the entire sector, according to European regulations. The Minister for Transport at the time, Clément Beaune, chose to negotiate a “discontinuity plan” with the European authorities, considering “that there was more risk” in embarking on a long-term legal procedure with the possibility of being forced to repay everything, and therefore liquidating the company at the end of the process.
“SNCF fought alongside the State to obtain the most moderate discontinuity possible,” indicated the president of Rail Logistics Europe, the holding company bringing together all SNCF freight activities (SNCF Freight, Captrain, combined transport). …), Frédéric Delorme.
What impact will this have on the business?
Leader in the sector with an annual turnover of 700 million euros and almost half of the market share in France, Fret SNCF was forced to abandon 23 of the most profitable freight flows to the competition – operators Belgian, German and French – or 20% of its turnover and 30% of its traffic. This operation was carried out in the first half of 2024. Fret SNCF will be reborn next year in the form of two separate companies; called Hexafret for freight transport and Technis for locomotive maintenance. A third stage must take place at the end of 2025-beginning of 2026, with the opening of the capital of Rail Logistics Europe, “but with a red line: that the SNCF group remains in the majority”, insists Frédéric Delorme.
What consequences for railway workers?
The disappearance of Fret SNCF “is very hard for railway workers”, recognized Frédéric Delorme. The process provides for the elimination of 500 jobs out of 5,000, but there will be no layoffs, the SNCF and the government have promised: all of the railway workers concerned will be transferred to other companies in the group. The first railway workers must be transferred to subsidiaries newly created by SNCF as part of the opening to competition in mid-December in Nice and Amiens.
How are the unions reacting?
The SNCF unions are demanding a moratorium on the SNCF Fret discontinuation process, and filed a social alarm on Thursday. “(It) allows us to file a strike notice and we have a united desire to increase the balance of power in the coming weeks,” said Sud-Rail federal secretary, Julien Troccaz. All SNCF unions have asked to be received by the group's management this week, the last step before a probable strike notice according to union sources.
What future for French rail freight?
The share of goods transported by train is already low in France (11% in 2023) compared to the European average (17%). But rail freight also recorded a more marked decline in France in 2023 (-17% of goods transported) compared to its European neighbors.
Despite the weakening of the company, Frédéric Delorme wants to believe that it can get back on a healthy footing. “These companies (Hexafret and Technis) will benefit from favorable factors to develop,” he assures. The French state has notably decided to increase by 30 million euros aid for single wagons (a train transporting loads for several clients) in the 2025 budget. In total, aid to the sector will amount to 370 million euros. 'euros.
“The multiple reorganizations and destructuring of the public rail system are hitting hard against the necessary development of an efficient public passenger and freight rail tool,” the unions, for their part, are indignant.
