(Bloomberg) -- France will extend a plan to renovate local rail lines used for freight and support companies investing in quieter trains.
The government will continue to spend an annual 10 million euros ($12 billion) through 2020 to local authorities and businesses to modernize lines that connect with wider roads. It will spend 20 million euros to help companies renew equipment.
“Rail freight is a priority,” Transport Minister Alain Vidalies said at a press conference on Thursday, adding that it's also beneficial on environmental grounds.
The announcement comes two days after the French train maker Alstom SA cancelled its plan to downsize a train plant in Belfort, Eastern France after the government announced it would buy more TGV high-speed trains to keep the factory rolling. France opened up the rail-freight market to competition in 2006 to comply with European Union rules.
Vidalies also announced the state would spend 90 million euros to a SNCF subsidiary to compensate for extra charges it paid to use infrastructure. That's on top of a 10 million-euro investment to connect harbors to train lines. In total, a sum of 150 million euros will be invested.
Rail freight has been losing share to road haulage, partly due to the state of the network, the minister said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ania Nussbaum in Paris at anussbaum5@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tara Patel at tpatel2@bloomberg.net, Andrew Noël, John Bowker
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