Alstom has obtained approval for operation of the Traxx Universal locomotives on the Western Corridor, including network access in France and Belgium.
The approval extends the Traxx operating area within the European freight network and enables cross-border services on additional routes. One of the newly available options is access to the railway line on the left bank of the Rhine, offering an alternative to the heavily used main Rhine corridor.
With the extension into France, the corridor now provides direct rail access to the port of Marseille and to industrial regions in southern and eastern France. This creates new routing possibilities for international freight traffic linking Mediterranean ports with central and northern Europe.
The Western Corridor approval also establishes a technical and regulatory basis for further network extensions. According to Alstom, this includes the potential inclusion of additional countries and the future introduction of a Traxx variant approved for speeds of up to 200 km/h.
