JEAN-PAUL BAILLY, President of La Poste and Anne-Marie Idrac, President of SNCF, yesterday formalized the creation of a joint engineering subsidiary to create a European high-speed freight network, in the presence of François Loos , the Minister for Industry. For the moment, the three "TGV Poste" in the colors of the postal establishment only transport between 3% and 5% of mail, against 12% by plane and the rest - more than 80% - by road. The idea is to increase this share to 10-15%, said yesterday Jean-Paul Bailly, with twenty daily circulations and a fleet of 10 TGVs. La Poste thus wants to alleviate road congestion, the next speed limit for heavy goods vehicles on motorways and reduce CO2 emissions. But also find a solution to the limitation of air slots for night flights. And reach its commitment to deliver 90% of the mail the day after it is sent in 2010.
Seven major cities will be served in France from the end of 2008 (Aix-en-Provence, Strasbourg, Lille, Paris, Rennes, Lyon, Bordeaux). And the objective is to take advantage of the extension of high-speed lines in Europe to create in 2010-2012 a European high-speed freight transport network, with London, Amsterdam, Cologne and then southern Europe.
Liberalization of the sector
Faced with the liberalization of rail, the challenge is to be the first to offer such an offer. Ultimately, La Poste and SNCF target other partners, who could also be associated with the capital. First concerned, air transport operators, such as FedEx, Air France or DHL. It is thus a question of draining the air freight flow by creating interconnections at the level of the major European airports.
"The TGV can be adapted to products with high added value, such as pharmaceutical products for example," explains Marc Véron, director of Fret SNCF. The project requires the construction of platforms to quickly transship large volumes of mail. The first should see the light of day in Bercy, larger than that of the Gare de Lyon. It also involves finding night slots compatible with maintenance so that mail is delivered in the morning.
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