13th TAG-RAG Meeting of the Atlantic Corridor, Paris

The meeting started at 10:00 with a Welcome Speech performed by SNCF Réseau representative, Mr. Michel Dupuis. As project manager for Time Tabling Redesign (TTR) pilot on the Atlantic Corridor, Mr. Dupuis informed about the project status. He invited the participants of the TAG/RAG meeting to join the second project kick-off meeting taking place on the 17^th October 2017 at Frankfurt. He also announced the objective of implementing the TTR Pilot on the Atlantic Corridor for TT 2020.

Mr. Minge, Corridor Deputy Director, called the attention of the participants for the importance of the existing and planned information gathered at Corridor Information Platform (CIP). He also stressed that Atlantic Corridor would welcome further information from all stakeholders (e.g. terminal managers, ports, …) in order to complete as much as possible the existing database.

Mr. Coutou, Corridor Managing Director, addressed the Corridor “Intermodal rail freight classification” theme. The draft cooperation agreement has been sent to the RUs and feedback is expected from DB Cargo and SNCF Logistics. For Renfe Mercancias some legal issues need to be clarified. Mr Eric Lambert from CFL Multimodal provided pertinent information on a similar project implemented on RFC2. DB Cargo, through Mr. Andrea Penso, confirmed the interest in participating in this project.

Mr. Coutou informed the participants on the contents and objectives of the feasibility study for the “Implementation of ERTMS on the cross border station of Woippy-Mannheim”. The kick-off meeting will take place on the 20^th September and study expected duration is 6 months.. RUs welcomed the study and were informed the Corridor (Contractor) will contact them in order to gather information regarding RUs ETCS plans for the most relevant trains.

Ms. Valérie Ladoucer reported on the developments of the TPM Work Group (WG). A manual was produced describing the targets and the group working process (distributed to the TAG/RAG participants at the end of the meeting). The main topics of the working group are:

• Quality improvement of the TIS reports;
• Identification of highly and systematically delayed trains;
• Improvement of the performance of identified trains in collaboration with the RUs

CFL Multimodal welcomed the interactive focus of the TPM WG and would like to see more RFCs to follow these steps.

TAG/RAG Organisation

Mr Andrea Penso (DB Cargo) volunteered as RAG-Speaker and was elected during the meeting in that quality by the represented RUs. TAG Speaker, Frédérique Erlichmann (Novatrans) will contact other TAG representatives aiming at the election of a TAG spokesperson. RUs and Terminal Managers suggested that the Advisory Groups should be able to meet at least one hour before each TAG/RAG meeting in order to organize and coordinate opinions.

TT 2018 – Request, Draft and Final Offer

The TT procedure was addressed, both from the Corridor representatives and the different stakeholders, being evidenced specific issues that need to be improved namely in France and Germany, and the corresponding cross-border sections. Further improvements in this field have to include PCS information quality in close coordination with C-OSS.

Capacity offer for TT 2019

As stated by Mr. Coutou, the requests of all RFC users were collected for the first time using a common and harmonized document. For TT2019 there was an increase of 40 to 50% of RUs requests, namely for multicorridor PaPs (2, 4 and 6) between Germany and Spain. The new requests include a daily PaP Port of Le Havre – Mannheim.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) – 1^st semester 2017

Mr. Coutou stated that the 1^st semester of 2017 showed a traffic decrease in France (-20%): rail-road flows were cancelled probably due to more favorable prices offered by road. Yearly KPIs follow a similar trend in the offered PaP.km, but an increase in the requests, which may suggest a positive evolution.

Corridor Satisfaction Survey 2017

Mr, Coutou encourage all the participants to answer the Satisfaction Survey, stressing the importance of client’s feedback as a major factor to improve the services rendered.

TCR San Sebastien – Bayonne

Mr. Coutou confirmed that full closure of the existing line between Bayonne and Hendaye during 8 weeks is planned for the spring of 2020. Taking into account that this is a critical path both for passengers and freight traffic, the Corridor and the involved IMs are working on alternative solutions.

Atlantic Freight Observatory

Mr. Pierre Maizy, from SYSTRA presented the main results of a Panel Survey, transmitting the main concerns expressed by the respondents and encouraging the participants to join the next survey and to include improvement suggestions in the questionnaire. Different participants suggested subjects to be addressed in the next survey, such as ERTMS deployment. Mr. Coutou informed on several working topics undergoing on Atlantic Corridor, most of all involve infrastructure refurbishment and upgrade, e.g. electrification, ERTMS, possibility of running and receiving 750m long trains.

AOB – Train driver language directive

There are foreseen problems in the observance of the Train Driver Language Directive, namely on the cross border section of Saarebrucken-Forbach. SNCF Réseau representative will submit this problem internally and will inform the RAG participants on the evolution of this issue.

Please find below the links to the previously mentioned Presentations:

• EEIG Atlantic Corridor presentation
• TPM WG presentation
• Atlantic Corridor Freight Observatory Survey results presentation
• Meeting Minutes

List of Attendees: