Following the massive landslide that occurred on August 27th in the Maurienne valley, rail traffic in the region remains suspended, and the prospects for a quick restoration look bleak. François Ravier, the Prefect of Savoie, revealed during a press conference that rail services are unlikely to resume for “a short year.”
The prolonged closure of the Frejus Railway has disrupted rail freight transportation, leaving Italy somewhat logistically isolated, not only from France but also from its usual access route to Switzerland and the rest of Europe through the Gotthard Base Tunnel, which had its own partial closure due to a derailment in August.
Efforts are being made to find alternatives, with Captrain, a major rail freight company for Italy-France traffic, re-routing eight weekly trains through the Ventimiglia-Menton border crossing. These additional trains will join the four Captrain convoys that typically run along this route, primarily transporting steelworks and feldspar products. Additionally, some intermodal services will be diverted via Domodossola and the Simplon route between Italy and Switzerland.
However, despite these efforts, it remains impossible to find alternatives for all rail freight services, with Captrain usually operating 80 pairs of trains along the Frejus Railway.
As the rail freight sector grapples with these disruptions, companies are left to navigate a challenging logistical landscape, leading to increased costs and delays for Italian exporters, as David Doninotti, secretary general of the Italian Foreign Trade Association, told Trans.iNFO in an interview at the end of September.