Captrain France, formerly VFLI, is a French

freight rail Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. A freight train, cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons ( International Union of Railways) haule ...

company. It is a subsidiary of SNCF's

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. The company was formed in 1998 as a low cost short line and industrial railway operator.

History

VFLI was established in 1998 by SNCF to operate as a low cost operation, initially the company took over the operations of two industrial railway systems: Voies Ferrées des Landes (VFL) and Mines Dominiales de Potasse d'Alsace. In 2000 the company began a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and economic risk, risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four rea ...

with Compagnie des chemins de fer départementaux (CFD) named''Voies Ferrées du Morvan'' to operate the 87 km

Avallon Avallon () is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in central-eastern France. Name Avallon, Latin ''Aballō'', ablative ''Aballone'', is ultimately derived from Gaulish ''*Aballū'', oblique ''*Aballon-'' meaning "App ...

Autun Autun () is a subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the early Roman Empire by Emperor Augustus as Augustodunum to give a Ro ...

railway line, and in 2001 took over operations on the ''Houllières du Bassin de Lorraine'' (HBL) via a subsidiary 'VFLI Cargo''. Up to 2007 the company was involved in the construction of

LGV Est The Ligne à Grande Vitesse Est européenne (East European High Speed Line), typically shortened to LGV Est, is a French high-speed rail line that connects Vaires-sur-Marne (near Paris) and Vendenheim (near Strasbourg). The line halved the ...

through the subsidiary ''Fertis''. In 2007, VFLI was certificatied to run trains on the full extent of the French national railway network owned by

Réseau Ferré de France Réseau ferré de France (RFF, french: French Rail Network) was a French company which owned and maintained the French national railway network from 1997 to 2014. The company was formed with the rail assets of SNCF in 1997. Afterwards, the train ...

. By 2008 the company was providing services for around forty industrial sites, with clients having included Rhodia, Arkema,

Arcelor Arcelor S.A. was the world's largest steel producer in terms of turnover and the second largest in terms of steel output, with a turnover of €30.2 billion and shipments of 45 million metric tons of steel in 2004. The company was created in 2002 ...

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

and Coke de Carling, Ciments français,

Lafarge La Farge, LaFarge or Lafarge can refer to: People * Antoinette LaFarge (1966–), American artist and writer * Christopher Grant LaFarge (1862–1938), American architect and partner in the firm Heins & LaFarge * Christopher Grant La Farge ( ...

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Port Edouard Herriot A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

(Lyon), ALZ,

Smurfit SCF Smurfit may refer to: *Alan Smurfit (born 1943), Irish retiree who won a World Series of Poker bracelet *Michael Smurfit, KBE, LL.D (honorary), (born 1936), businessman holding dual Irish and British citizenship *Tony Smurfit (born 1963), British-b ...

in Facture and PSA (in

Trnava Trnava (, german: Tyrnau; hu, Nagyszombat, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia, to the northeast of Bratislava, on the Trnávka river. It is the capital of a ''kraj'' ( Trnava Region) and of an '' okres'' ( T ...

, Slovakia), other contracts included transport of combustion waste from ''Protires'' waste processing plant in Strasbourg, work sub-contracted from SNCF and transportation from ports. In January 2021, VFLI was rebranded Captrain France.

Current operations

As of 2012 VFLI's operations are in four main areas: main rail freight in France ; rail freight operations at industrial sites; rail infrastructure train haulage; and short haul operations including port railways. Main line freight rail accounted in 2011 for nearly two-thirds of VFLI's turnover, representing a turnover of 67.7 million Euros, compared to 5.4 million Euros in 2007.

Rolling stock and facilities

In 2010 VFLI owned ~100 diesel locomotives, mostly shunting and short trip locomotives. as well as ~800 wagons. The company also operates rolling stock workshops, carrying out maintenance and refurbishment.

Notes

References

External links

Company website (in French)Alternate company Website (in French)
{{SNCF Group, state=collapsed Captrain Railway companies established in 1998 Railway companies of France 1998 establishments in France