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During the next several weeks, French national rail infrastructure manager and owner Réseau Ferré de France, development bank la Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations and Railroad Development Corp. (RDC) will jointly form a transportation company in France aimed at promoting the creation of short-line freight operations.

The parties are partnering to work with local investors to provide support in railway and local freight traffic management, economic development and financing. The joint transportation firm will promote initiatives and innovations in support of carload traffic and local freight-rail transportation.

Legislative and regulatory tools already are in place to promote short-line operations, which are known as opérateurs de fret de proximité, or OFPs, in France.

“Regulations relative to the organization and regulation of transportation permit greater flexibility for OFPs, which can manage the infrastructure of light density, freight-only lines,” said France’s Secretary of State for Transport Dominique Bussereau in a prepared statement.

In addition, a support group created in July 2008 has brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including shippers, regional economic constituents, logistics and transportation professionals, associations and institutions. The group will help foster experience sharing, and facilitate exchanges of skills and know-how, RDC said.