IRJ at Transport Logistic 2025: The CEO of French private rail freight operator RégioRail, Brice Devinoy, says that his company is poised to seize new opportunities arising from the break up of French National Railways’ (SNCF) freight subsidiary Fret SNCF, agreed with the European Commission (EC) to meet its concerns over alleged state aid.

“It is a tipping point for the French market,” he told IRJ during the Transport Logistic 2025 trade fair taking place in Munich this week. He sees a major opportunity to expand in niche markets such as wagonload and intermodal, while the restructured state operator concentrates on its core business, helping to keep on rail traffic that might otherwise be lost to road.

RegioRail specialises in first/last-mile wagonload traffic across France. Current clients include mineral water producers Evian and Nestlé, as well as Lafarge, Eiffage and Michelin. It is now looking to expand its domestic business, together with cross-border traffic to Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

New locomotives will underpin this strategy, with RegioRail due to take delivery next year of four dual-mode Traxx locomotives on order from Alstom, with an option for three more. They will be equipped with diesel engines for last-mile capability.

Eurorail

Also looking to increase its presence in France is sister company Eurorail, based in Belgium and in which Railroad Development Corporation (RDC) of the United States has a majority stake. RDC and Eurorail formed RégioRail as a 50:50 joint venture in 2012.

Since January, Eurorail and RégioRail have been operating an overnight express freight service for SNCF’s logistics subsidiary Geodis, running every night in both directions between Dourges in northern France and Avignon in the south. Formed of up to 31 wagons, it carries palletised goods including drinks and other retail products.

“Our niche is what the incumbent operator doesn’t want to do,” RDC chair, Henry Posner III, told IRJ, pointing out that RDC joined with Eurorail to strengthen its credentials in the French freight market. “We found a niche with a partner and built it from there,” he says, stressing that, as with its operations in Germany, RDC does not look to compete head-to-head with the incumbent operator but rather keep on rail traffic that might otherwise be lost to road.

France presents significant opportunities as there are relatively few operators in the rail freight market, compared with the “hundreds” in Germany. Like Fret SNCF, incumbent DB Cargo is facing the prospect of being broken up if it is unable to become profitable by the end of next year after the EC found that it had received illegal state aid. This could result in a period of fierce competition in the German market.

The French market is unique in other respects, according to Posner. “I’ve never been anywhere in the world where the railway tells the government what to do, except France,” he says. Asked if he means SNCF or the powerful railway unions, he replies: “you can’t separate the two. SNCF is a country within a country. But we have earned respect in this environment based on our business model of partnership and our culture of cooperation.”