This new connection coming into service enables RENFE to start its international freight traffic operations through the new Pertús tunnel linking Figueres with Perpignan, with four trains a week connecting Barcelona with Lyon and Milan and offering a better service.
This European gauge connection (1.435mm) coming into service on 21 December is a milestone in railway history and opens a new stage in the connection with Europe, as highlighted by the State Secretary for Transport, Isaías Táboas, who was present when the first train left, together with the Mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, the Government Delegate in Catalonia, Joan Rangel, the Chairman of the Port Authority, Jordi Valls and senior officials from RENFE and ADIF.
This first service forms part of the BarceLyon product, operated jointly by Naviland Cargo, Port de Barcelona and RENFE.
With this new connection RENFE has increased its freight offer by some 300 tonnes per train as it is operating trains of 750 metres in length and cuts transport time by some 6 hours by speeding up the border crossing and eliminating the handling of goods at the border.
RENFE can therefore now offer a more efficient service in terms of productivity and environmental savings. The new tunnel is part of the European gauge line between Barcelona and Perpignan, enabling RENFE to redirect some of its services that depart from Barcelona to destinations beyond the Pyrenees. In the case of the BarceLyon service, which links Barcelona Port with Lyon, this is a key south-eastern European logistical hub, and for the service for the HUPAC operator linking Barcelona with Milan.
More freight, less time
RENFE is operating four trains per week on these routes connecting Barcelona with France and Italy from the Morrot and Can Tunis junction terminals and with connections in the Freight Platforms of Barcelona Port (TCB-Tercat). The new connection with France will also enable new options for links with the RENFE Intermodal Multi-customer Network for container transport through the Morrot Terminal. RENFE has amongst its projects a study for a new service to connect Barcelona with Toulouse and Bordeaux with a service similar to BarceLyon and that would also be provided through the new European gauge tunnel.
The corridor is 168 Km long, 92 of which are conventional gauge widths where a third rail has been installed for its use on international gauge (1.435 mm), whilst the remaining 76 Km belong to sections of the future Barcelona-Figueres high-speed Madrid-Barcelona-French border connection.
The new infrastructure enables the length of the trains to be increased from 450 to 750 metres, enabling RENFE to offer a larger capacity of freight to its customers on the aforementioned services originating to and from Barcelona, up to 20 TEUS more. Also the speeding up of the border crossing and eliminating the handling of freight at the border are two factors that will enable a saving in transportation time of some 6 hours and the possibility for the loading companies to load on the same day of departure.
Freight trains will follow the following route:
- Morrot Logistics Depot-Can Tunis-Castellbisbal Logistics Depot: 25.7 km (third rail).
- Castellbisbal-Mollet Junction: 19 km (third rail) Mollet Junction: 3.5 km.
- Mollet-Montmeló: 3.6 km (LAV).
- Montmeló Tunnel-River Congost Viaduct: 1.5 km (third rail).
- Montmeló-Gerona Logistics Depot: 66 km (LAV).
- Girona-Vilamalla Logistics Depot: 41.2 km (third rail).
- Figueres Variant: 4.5 km (third rail).
- Figueres-International section variant: 3.6 km (LAV).
Latest traffic systems
Apart from the introduction of the third rail, the system is complemented by the execution of 6 sidings enabling 750m-long trains to be stabled; the adaptation of the overhead line that supplies 3kv of continuous power to the trains on the conventional gauge stretches and a 25 kv alternating current on the high-speed stretches; and the provision of modern safety, telecommunications and signalling systems such as the ERTMS and the GSM-R. The traffic handling systems will be controlled from the High Speed Monitoring and Control Centre (CRC) and the Centralised Traffic Control (CTC) of Barcelona.
Amongst the main benefits for freight transport offered by the new connection is the movement of freight on UIC gauge lines (1.435 mm) on both sides of the border, meaning that freight is not broken up on arrival at border points, as there is no need to transfer the UTIs (intermodal transport units) to international gauge platforms, or the modification of the train's bogies, as has happened until now, that will create a significant reduction in journey times. On the other hand, a greater transport capacity will be offered on the harmonisation of train lengths to European standards.
The services will soon enjoy European interoperable safety and communications systems, such as the ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System).
In this respect, and in order to adapt to the new infrastructure, steps have been taken to enable the locomotives to travel using different overhead power cables (3,000 V conventional gauge, 25,000 High Speed and 1,500 V France). In addition, the freight wagons bogies have been changed to enable their movement on the UIC gauge.
Energy savings
The four weekly trains that will connect Barcelona with Lyon and Milan will carry a total of 544,000 tons in 2011, 208,000 tons of which will be on the BarceLyon service and 336,000 on the service linking Barcelona with Italy. The use of the train as opposed to other transport means on these services will mean an energy saving of 33,680 tons of CO2 and 8,560 tons of petroleum. To be precise, this first year of Barcelona-Lyon freight traffic will produce savings of 13,830 tons of CO2 and 19,850 of petroleum; therefore in respect of traffic between Barcelona and Milan, the savings will be 5,260 tons of petroleum and 19,850 tons of CO2.
EFE