FRANCE: Having obtained its own safety certification for France, the Swiss national operator’s SBB Cargo France subsidiary has gained the ability to reroute trains avoid congestion and disruption on the Rhine-Alpine corridor through Germany.
On the weekend of May 31 and June 1, SBB Cargo France operated its first commercial train through France for ChemOil, running from Basel through Strasbourg to Karlsruhe and Offenbach.
This was a planned diversion of a regular service, which is now running via France in order to gain operational experience.
‘In order to be able to reroute quickly and efficiently via France in the event of disruption in Germany, a regular service is needed on the left bank of the Rhein’, the operator told Railway Gazette International, adding that it is planning to run more trains under its French safety certificate.
SBB Cargo France is based at Huningue in Alsace. It is the fifth subsidiary of SBB Cargo International, and is headed by Managing Director Omar Zerkly and Head of Production Amir Ounzerfi.
