Mercitalia (FS) launches the challenge to the French company SNCF on freight traffic

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After the Freccia Rossa at Trenitalia, the freight caravans of Merciatalia. Pressure is building on FS Group (Ferrovie dello Stato) in the French market and on the state company SNCF across the Alps. A few days after the FS Group entered the management of a large European intermodal terminal (Duisburg, Germany), freight traffic on the Italian-French hub is also accelerating.

A sign that for the Italian railway company the European market is increasingly a domestic market, both in the passenger sector and in the transport, logistics and cargo sectors. The novelties appeared at the exhibition Sitl, Semaine de l’innovation, du transport e de la logisticique, which took place in recent days in Paris in the presence of more than 400 exhibitors and 24 thousand operators in the sector. Paris-Catania, Paris-Marcianese (Caserta) and Paris-Bari are the three new lines announced by the FS, which raise the number of weekly trains between the two countries to 24. The caravans run, out and back, in the direction of the French capital, via Modagne.

The project

Three more trains were added to these trains per week from Paris through Switzerland and directed to various stations in northern Italy. In addition, other trains from the Burgundy region to Novara and between Paris and Padua are due to be activated soon. Three French stations (Chalon-sur-Saône, Pagny and Macon) participate and the availability of rail tracks is determined by the French national network. “We are looking at France as part of a broader project looking towards Europe,” says Carlo Palacciano, President of Mercitalia Logistics, the leader in the logistics hub, of the FS Group. As Mercitalia, we are present directly in 7 European countries and 14 through partnerships. We already have an established presence of Mercitalia Logistics in Paris, and we now want to strengthen this presence through new contacts with local operators of developments in multimedia.

Frecciarossa example

The example of the passenger sector motivates us with Milan and Paris Freccia Rossa: even if the first steps are a little complicated, we are now reaping great satisfaction ». In France, Mercitalia Logistics offers integrated terminal and logistics solutions in terms of intermodal traffic with operational headquarters in Paris allowing door-to-door transportation via road services escorting all shipments in the first and last mile. Mercitalia in France allows goods to continue to the Benelux, Great Britain and Spain. Gianpiero Strisioglio, CEO of Mercilitalia Logistics notes: “We want to work with French operators and in order to encourage exchange between the two countries, which already have large traffic volumes, and to achieve the goals of the modular transport of goods from road to rail that Europe asks of us.”