The Port of Barcelona inaugurates direct railway connection with France

The port of the Catalan capital now has a direct rail freight connection with France. The brand-new service is based at the BEST rail terminal, and connects the port infrastructure with Toulouse three times a week, and with Lyon once a week. This new route improves the transit time for goods, also in relation to other ports on the continent.

The connection will be completely direct, as it will be the first rail service between Spain and France that does not require transshipment or changing locomotives after crossing the border. The fact that the port of Barcelona is the only one in the country with a European gauge connection from the terminal to the border is what allows it to go beyond the Pertús tunnel with the same locomotive. Crossing the border with such ease "reduces some obstacles and extra costs, and makes it viable and cost-competitive to transport trains from the port to the south of France," emphasized the president of the Port of Barcelona, Lluís Salvadó, at the inauguration of the connection.

This freight service, promoted by the companies APM Terminals Railways Spain, Synergy, and Naviland Cargo, will also be the first regular container service on the national rail network carried out with a 750-meter-long convoy. This is the maximum length allowed in Europe, and provides a capacity of 108 standard containers per journey. This figure represents a considerable increase compared to the 450 meters and 68 containers on average of usual convoys. This increase in transport capacity by a single train implies a saving in emissions, on a route that will also save time and resources for logistics companies.

Rail transport generates ten times fewer emissions than truck transport, while also helping to decongest the road network

The general director of Hutchison Ports BEST, Guillermo Belcastro, has gone further by assuring that it is a "historic day for logistics in Southern Europe". For his part, the general director of Synergy, Pablo García, has celebrated that these services represent "a saving in transit time, connecting with more than 200 direct ports worldwide". "We have to continue working to get many more trains and not stop here," added the general director of APMT Spain Railway. The Sales and Pricing Director of Naviland Cargo, Philippe Vacelet, has also highlighted the strategic relevance of this new service, a railway connection that reinforces the Port of Barcelona as a logistics hub in Southern Europe.