Opting for rail motorways presents numerous advantages. From the optimisation of traffic flows and de-congestion of roads to economic performance, reduced environmental footprint, and more. Rail motorways meet all the current and future challenges of the goods transport sector, and is now helping to develop the best road transport method in Europe.

  • Flexibility

  • Cost-effective

  • Benefits for the community

  • Social advantages

  • Environment

Increase your flexibility +_faq -_faq

Take advantage of the frequent daily connections, including weekends and public holidays during which you are prohibited from using the roads. VIIA offers carriers a flexible and competitive solution. The quick loading and unloading operations as well as the option to reserve online up to one hour prior to the trains’ departure add to this flexibility.

Save on your transport costs +_faq -_faq

Our economic model allows you to improve your productivity. Use your tractors mainly for pre- and post-carriage, while your semi-trailers are being transported by train: this means more deliveries without investing in additional means. In that way, on the Le Boulou-Bettembourg route, you enjoy a transport cost 10 to 15% lower than that of road-only transport.

Additionally, when using the rail motorway, you reduce your fuel and toll expenses and your vulnerability to fluctuations in the price of hydrocarbons. You can therefore predict your operations costs more accurately. Your semi-trailers’ service life is extended due to reduced wear and tear on tyres, for example.

Benefits for the community +_faq -_faq

Rail motorways contribute to providing a solution to the problem of road congestion and help improve road safety, particularly for the transport of hazardous materials.

Every year, thanks to rail motorways, trucks drive 70 million fewer kilometres on the roads. The modal shift from road to rail reduces the rate of accidents on the road each year.

Creating a rail motorway terminal reinforces and galvanises a region.

Social advantages +_faq -_faq

By limiting long-distance road journeys, the use of the rail motorway encourages compliance with regulations, especially concerning driving times and rest times.

The transport of a semi-trailer by train also offers you the option to assign your driver to other jobs. The driver can thus be assigned jobs that involve fewer absences from home.

For example, a trip from Barcelona, (Spain) to Gothenburg, (Sweden) takes about 5 days by road. Using trains, the whole trip takes 48 hours. The driver drives from Barcelona to Le Boulou and drops off the semi-trailer, which travels by train to Luxembourg. Then, another driver picks up the semi-trailer in Luxembourg to take it to Sweden by road.

Reduce your environmental impact +_faq -_faq

Rail motorways allow you to reduce your CO2 emission by more than 94% compared with road travel.

A semi-trailer travelling by train for the 1,400 km between Calais and Le Boulou in France thus saves around 1.2 tonnes of CO2 compared with road travel over the same distance.

Furthermore, in ecologically sensitive areas, in the Alps in particular, the Alpine Rail Motorway (AFA in French) reduces disturbance, particularly sound emissions and local pollutants (such as particles), caused by road traffic.