There are approximately 5,700 kilometres of small railway lines in France that are not currently in use.
France has thousands of kilometres of disused railway tracks which are too costly to renovate for heavy, modern trains.
But one startup has devised an alternative solution to put them back into use.
Instead of relaunching trains, the project by engineering firm SICEF (part of AKKA Technologies’ Flexmove consortium) will see hybrid vans using the lines.
Dubbed Ferromobiles, these vehicles hope to boost green connections in car-dependent rural areas.
A new lease of life for France’s forgotten railways
According to SICEF, there are 5,700 kilometres of small railway lines in France that are not currently in use.
It has left swathes of rural areas without public transport connections.
The company’s solution to reactivating these lines is to launch vehicles adapted from a Peugeot e-Traveller and fitted with a technical system that allows them to switch smoothly from road to rail.
The Ferromobiles will begin trials this month on the Courpière-Vertolaye line in France’s Auvergne region, according to website Railtech.
If the results show potential, other regions such as Occitanie, Brittany, or Nouvelle-Aquitaine could adopt the scheme.
Ferromobiles will be a low-carbon solution for car-dependent areas
The Ferromobiles have been designed to carry a maximum of eight people.
The fleet will have the flexibility to operate on a fixed schedule with reduced waiting times, or be booked on demand 24/7 using your phone, like an Uber ride, the company says.
There will be ‘hubs’ along railway tracks where passengers can board. The vehicles operate in automatic mode on rails, while a driver takes the wheel on the road.
The company emphasises that the tracks used by Ferromobiles will not be shared with trains.
The project hopes to be a low-carbon solution for rural, car-dependent areas by repurposing existing infrastructure and using 100 per cent electric vehicles.
The project was hailed by Automobile Magazine as a “frugal yet high-impact” approach.
“A Peugeot Traveller adapted to run on rails, with reduced operating costs and intelligent reuse of existing infrastructure,” the magazine wrote, praising the Ferromobiles as a “textbook example of smart innovation”.
