Transport chronicle

Michel Caniaux and his Europe in need of transversals

Audio 02:29

A TGV parked at Montparnasse station in Paris on March 19, 2021 (photo illustration).

REUTERS - GONZALO FUENTES

By: Marina Mielczarek

6 mins

Europe gives 80 billion to its freight transport.

A few days before the Russian attacks in Ukraine, transport ministers gathered around their climate ambitions.

Anxious to reduce the number of trucks on their roads, the Europeans promise to double the number of trains on the continent.

But if we are to believe Michel Caniaux, one of the greatest French experts in the transport of goods, France is far from fulfilling its specifications.

Michel Caniaux has published his latest book,

with L'Harmattan editions.

During a stopover in Paris, he took the opportunity to speak to Marina Mielczarek about it.

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RFI: You have become one of the great experts on European trains, how did you fall into the pot?

Michel Caniaux:

I made a career at the SNCF (National Railway Company). During these years, I also lived for 5 years in Rome and I lived and closely observed the differences between countries.

Both for the transport of passengers and goods.

It is therefore with complete legitimacy that I can say today that France is one of the bad students of the rail network.

From the 1980s, our country believed in all-trucks!

To the detriment of its existing conventional railways.

And since then, well neglected, well damaged.

So let's talk about it.

At their last European meeting, the German Transport Minister said that Europe should make its rail offer sexier!

What does it mean ?

First of all, it means much more simplicity and fluidity!

And above all, efforts on the part of all countries.

Europe must regain its railway prestige as it was in the 19th century.

But France, it must regain its prestige of the 1970s, just before its choice to invest massively in TGV (high-speed trains) and to forget its secondary lines.

Why this anger towards French rail policy?

Because there was a political choice on the TGVs which led to unraveling the network which could have linked many cities in France.

I am not against the TGV, but realize.

In the 1970s, France was one of the best equipped countries in the world in terms of trains.

It's the lure of easy money in a way... 

This week, let's look at freight, the transport of goods.

At the head of your association Altro, Association Logistique Transport de la Région Ouest, as in your book

, the same observation: the train could mend the links between Europeans.  

Perfectly!

I'm convinced.

Discovering the products of neighboring countries, or visiting friends or family on a simple and direct train journey, would do a lot for peace between peoples.

And at the moment, with the war in Ukraine, we are all the more aware of its importance.

In Europe, you therefore recognize good and bad pupils in the transport of goods… Germany being on the podium with other countries rather to the east.

Yes !

Germany is giving itself the means to match its ambitions.

Each year, it invests approximately 9 billion euros for its rail network.

Austria 3 billion for a rail network of 6,000 km, therefore much shorter than France (27,000 km).

In France it remains at just over 2 billion euros per year.

Given the limited resources allocated, we can only maintain the tracks, not build new ones, which should be done.   

You have a doctrine that can be summed up in four letters: RPFC

It's true.

And it works when each criterion is improved.

R for speed, P for affordability, F for Wi-Fi frequency, and C for comfort.

You defend the idea of ​​being able to cross Europe back and forth without having to stop.

A gain in environmental protection.

Putting trucks on trains or rolling containers on rails, yes, that pollutes a lot less than rolling them on a bitumen road!

In the midst of the energy crisis in Europe, the choice is not even debatable.  

Is it this kind of crossroads that you defend in your book, this Via Atlantica?

It is exactly that.

We can now imagine a Western European line linking Brest (in Brittany) to Bilbao in Spain as far as Lyon and then to Italy and even further without going through Paris.

The misfortune of France is to have made lines which always join the capital.

We need trains that go from town to European town.    

But are there already existing rail corridors across Europe?

Yes, there are 9 of them. They are multimodal, that is to say at the same time roads and railways.

What must be done is to rebuild new railways along these lines.

Because these corridors are of totally different formats and materials depending on the country.

Being able to circulate there requires frequent stops depending on the countries crossed.

This is the case between Italy and Slovenia.

Hence the expenditure on personnel to re-switch the trains or reattach the wagons.  

Do other countries already have more modernized systems that avoid this manual work?

The United States and Russia for example.

With automated coupling.

In Europe, if we had these automated direct lines, we would have harmonized calibers.

Hence enormous energy savings, time with staff busy on other tasks.  

And the paradox is that it is often the ecologists who prevent these projects?

Yes.

They want to pollute less without building new tracks.

However, today, it should be known that the needs and requirements of the inhabitants have changed.

The rise of e-commerce (remote orders on the internet) requires more transport of goods.

Without forgetting the noise factor, local residents want lines, but on condition that noise pollution is reduced.

For this, we need new train prototypes and new traffic routes. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown us the scale of goods exports from China to Europe.

However, China aims to develop its new “

Absolutely, it takes 15 days.

Crossing Central Europe.

And you have to stop there again to change tracks because the track gauges in the countries of the former Soviet Union are different.

But yes, if it saves time and energy compared to transport by boat, you know, I encourage the development of all cross-borders!

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