From 56 euros/MWh in 2021 to 473.51 euros/MWh in 2023, the electricity bill paid by rail freight agents to SNCF Réseau will multiply by 8.5 in two years.
Enough to strangle a sector that today believes that its survival is in danger. The 4F Alliance, which brings together all the players in the sector in France, believes that companies “do not have visibility over the aid they are requesting to face the explosion in electricity prices, the unsustainability of which jeopardizes the continuity of their activity – especially for the little ones.
“Dramatic” consequences for the entire supply chain
The lobby denounces above all the silence of the government while the transport of goods by rail is at the center of the ecological transition in the transport of goods. After a meeting with the Minister of Transport Clément Beaune on November 15, 4F regretted the lack of responses from the executive.
The sector has only two demands: a cap on the price of electricity at 180 euros per megawatt hour and the adaptation of the existing toll aid system so that the State is responsible for all freight tolls billed by SNCF Réseau to the operators.
The danger pointed out by the sector does not concern only railway actors, since the entire supply chain is affected by the domino effect “including road carriers that use combined rail-road transport, who run the risk of suffering a cost increase ranging between 15 and 20%”.
“Since the road does not have the capacity to absorb the entire volume of goods that circulate on the railway, the entire French supply chain is affected by this increase in the costs of rail freight transport”, continues 4F, who speaks of a potentially “dramatic” situation.
Remember that the Climate Law of August 22, 2021 provides for the doubling of the modal share of rail freight transport to reach 18% in 2030.
Source: BFM TV
