Rail transport between Cherbourg and the Basque Country: soon 25,000 trucks on trains to connect the British Isles to Spain

Operated by Brittany Ferries, a “multimodal highway” (a railway line with loading terminals, editor’s note) now links Cherbourg to Mouguerre, near Bayonne, to decarbonize freight between the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula.

The 750-meter-long Cherbourg terminal can load or unload 12 trailers simultaneously thanks to technology from the French company Lohr, which pivots the wagons on the platform to allow tractors to pull them off the train.

One departure per day six days a week

Active since May 20, 2025, this terminal was financed to the tune of 2.9 million by the Normandy region, 1 million by the Manche department, and 1.4 million for the European Union.

Brittany Ferries, the initiator of the project, has invested 25 million euros across the entire line.

"As of today, there is one departure per day in each direction, six days a week. Eventually, we are aiming for 25,000 trailers per year," Jean-Marc Roué, chairman of the Brittany Ferries supervisory board, told AFP.

Soon all-electric

Some infrastructure (bridges, tunnels) of the primary railway circuit, which is entirely electrified, on the route between Cherbourg and Mouguerre does not currently allow Lohr wagons to use them.

The secondary circuit and diesel locomotives are therefore being used while the work is being completed, which is expected to be completed in 2027. "However, diesel rail freight produces three times less CO2 emissions than trucks, but all-electric is 30 times less!" explained Jean-Marc Roué.

According to him, shipping lines operated between France and Ireland, such as Cherbourg-Rosslare by Brittany Ferries, have been booming since Brexit.