Train de Fret dans la Vallée de Rhône

Rail Logistics Europe

The Rail Logistics Europe group is Europe's leading rail freight logistics and transport company, offering its customers customised end-to-end services.

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An original and unique group: 6 brands with complementary expertise

  • Hexafret: the rail wagon groupage organiser
  • Captrain: rail companies connecting Europe 
  • Forwardis: the architect simplifying access to rail freight 
  • Naviland Cargo: the multimodal door-to-door container carrier  
  • VIIA: the specialist in high-speed rail motorways 
  • Technis: a maintenance company optimising locomotive assets 
  • 9,500

    employees in 10 countries

  • No. 1

    rail logistics network in France

  • 6

    brands make up Rail Logistics Europe

What we do

Thanks to its many areas of expertise and its network, which is unique in Europe, RLE and its 6 brands offer tailor-made, carbon-free door-to-door solutions to its customers, for all types of goods, in France, on the European continent and even beyond. RLE's aim is to accelerate the modal shift from road to rail and make rail the essential sustainable solution for freight transport.

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How we do it

RLE's companies design and produce innovative, reliable and sustainable rail logistics solutions to improve customer performance and protect the planet. They are built around unique skills and know-how in the following areas:

  • rail traction, from single wagonloads to 3,000-tonne block trains
  • combined transport (rail motorways and maritime container transport),
  • rail transport commissioning and equipment maintenance.

Our entities

Rail Logistics Europe's strength lies in the complementarity and synergies between its six brands: Hexafret, Captrain, Technis, Forwardis, Naviland Cargo and VIIA.

Locomotive Hexafret

Hexafret

The ambition of France's new benchmark rail freight company is to accelerate the modal shift from road to rail and to develop its unique know-how across borders, connecting territories to each other and to Europe. Heir to the technical and safety expertise of Fret SNCF, Hexafret can count on the expertise of its 4,000 employees to operate 1,100 long-distance trains a week, serving 1,300 industrial and logistics sites with sidings in France and Europe. 

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Captrain

Captrain is a major player in rail transport and logistics, drawing on its unique European network of companies to serve the main international corridors as well as the domestic markets of Western and Central Europe.

With teams close to customers, Captrain offers a complete package of services including international traction, on-site rail logistics and customised transport solutions tailored to the specific needs of shippers.

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Technis

A new major player in maintenance for the rail freight market, Technis is using the expertise of its 500-strong workforce to optimise locomotive availability for all customers in the market: railway companies, keepers and manufacturers. The new Rail Logistics Europe company has around ten workshops across the country and a network of partners abroad to provide high-performance, accessible maintenance for competitive freight. 

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VIIA

VIIA

VIIA is the continental combined transport operator that puts lorries on trains using a network of high-speed rail motorways. Today, with VIIA, rail is adapting to road to create a global, high-performance mode of transport on a European scale.

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Naviland Cargo

Naviland Cargo

Naviland Cargo is Europe's leading combined maritime transport operator and freight forwarder, combining rail, road and sea barges into a single logistics chain.

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Forwardis

Forwardis is a forwarding agent with expertise in rail and the transport chain. It develops rail, river and multimodal solutions tailored to the needs of its customers, from Spain to China.

As an architect of alternative logistics solutions, Forwardis aims to simplify access to greener distribution channels by developing original, global solutions that combine transport modes and partners to create maximum added value for its customers.

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Get the latest from RLE

Find out what we’re doing around the world—freight transport, innovative solutions, rail logistics and more.

Chargement de colis Amazon en TGV

Amazon packages travel in dedicated cargo holds aboard TGVs

Our company Hexafret operates a high-speed service that helps reduce CO₂ emissions and ease road traffic between Paris and Lyon.

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Ulysse Fret: €4bn investment in rail freight over 10 years

Published by the French Ministry of Transport and produced in collaboration with SNCF Réseau and Alliance 4F, this report marks a key stage in upgrading and expanding France’s rail freight.

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A biofuel tank to help decarbonize rail freight transport

This innovative solution is being rolled out by SNCF Réseau and Europorte at the Gevrey-Perrigny sorting yard in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It’s a first for rail freight in France.

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Port of Sète on course to become a multimodal hub

Upgrades to the rail platform operated by SNCF’s VIIA on the Mediterranean coast are now under way. And cutting-edge horizontal transfer technology (HTT) promises to revolutionize how it handles cargo.

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With Hexafret and Technis, a new beginning for freight at SNCF

These two companies will become part of Rail Logistics Europe on 1 January 2025, in accordance with the Fret SNCF discontinuity plan decided by the European Commission.
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