THE Directorate-General for Competition at the European Commission (EC) has decided not to raise objections to the French and Italian governments providing direct grants to support the relaunch of the cross-border piggyback service from Aiton, near Chambéry in France, to Orbassano near Turin. The decision was announced on March 16.
The service was launched on the 175km route in 2003, carrying lorry semi-trailers on Modalohr swing-tray wagons and requiring the construction of specialist terminals in both France and Italy. The first-ever Modalohr service, it was introduced following the fire in the Mont Blanc road tunnel which killed 39 people on March 24 1999. This resulted in lorries carrying hazardous goods being banned from the tunnel, moving by rail instead.
However, service frequency was cut from four times a day to twice daily due to infrastructure maintenance work in France. The Modalohr service was withdrawn following the rockfall in France on August 27 2023 which closed the line from Chambéry to Modane on the Italian border for a total of 592 days.
The search is underway for a new operator, but French National Railways (SNCF) will not be able to bid as Chambéry - Orbassano is one of the 23 services that its freight subsidiary Fret SNCF was obliged to surrender to competitors following an EC investigation into illegal state aid.
It also remains to be seen how the service will be restarted, as the Modalohr wagons and terminals were mothballed in 2023. The trains were hauled by a dedicated fleet of 12 class BB 36300 electric locomotives, 10 owned by SNCF and two by Mercitalia, which were withdrawn in November 2025. The five SNCF locomotives are currently for sale.
