The Transport Working Group and the Spatial Planning and Sustainable Development Working Group met in Paris for two days of meetings, exchange, and technical visits on 21 and 22 September.
The two-day meeting started with a visit to a HAROPA cargo terminal on the Seine River in the heart of Paris. The terminal handles the logistics for the majority of Parisian Franprix supermarkets using astonishingly little space, a few steps away from the Eiffel Tower. This visit was followed by independent meetings of each working group at the offices of the French Ministry of Ecological Transition in La Défense.
The following day included a joint meeting and a lively exchange on trans-sectoral issues of transport and spatial planning. The two groups also received a visit from Paul Delduc, head of the French General Inspectorate for the Environment and Sustainable Development (IGEDD), and previously energy, environment, transport, and agriculture adviser to President Emmanuel Macron.
The meeting was also an opportunity to officially pass the baton from Michel Rostagnat, outgoing chair of the Transport Working Group, to Michel Pinet, the new chair.
The two Thematic Working Bodies concluded their visit with an interesting tour of the control rooms of SNCF Réseau, the infrastructure manager for the French rail network, which is situated next to the emblematic Gare de l’Est train station in Central Paris.