Medway’s first French service passes 300 trains to ArcelorMittal Dunkirk
Medway has passed the mark of 300 trains for ArcelorMittal Dunkirk since December 2025, carrying about 650,000 tonnes of lime and limestone from Pas-de-Calais quarries in the first ten months.
The milestone was marked on 28 September 2026 at the Dunkirk plant, where Medway also christened three new locomotives on the site’s rail yard. ArcelorMittal France presented the christening as a sign of the operator’s expanding business in France.
The Dunkirk traffic is where Medway’s French operation began. MEDLOG, whose rail logistics arm is Medway, says Medway France ran its first service between Caffiers and Dunkirk on 14 December 2025 for a steel industry customer, and the service was planned to run 365 days a year with up to 3,600 tonnes per train. Reaching the 300-train mark between mid-December and late September works out at roughly one train a day.
| Route | Operating company | First service | Planned frequency | Traffic |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caffiers – Dunkirk (France) | Medway France | 14 December 2025 | 365 days a year | Lime and limestone for a steel industry customer, up to 3,600 tonnes per train |
| Linz and Wels – Trieste (Austria – Italy) | Medway Austria and Medway Italia | 17 December 2025 | Three times a week | Link to the Italian port of Trieste, designed to integrate with MEDLOG’s intermodal network |
The Dunkirk traffic was one of two Medway services started that month: the other connects Linz and Wels in Austria with Trieste. Before these launches, Medway already ran trains in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. Frequencies are as announced at launch. Source: MEDLOG, 18 December 2025.
Lime and limestone from Pas-de-Calais quarries
The material comes from partner quarries operated by Lhoist and Carrières du Boulonnais. Lime, made by calcining limestone, is used in the steel shop to convert pig iron into steel, and castine, a limestone, serves as a binder in the plant’s sinter unit.
Thierry Flament, director of the Dunkirk site, said rail was the most efficient and most environmentally sound way to move these materials over the few dozen kilometres between the quarries and the plant.
Ten Medway employees work directly on rail operations around Dunkirk and Caffiers, supported by coordination and management staff at the company’s head office in Écully.
Rail inside and beyond the Dunkirk plant
Within the Dunkirk site alone, the rail network extends over 115 kilometres. The plant supplies external customers directly and, above all, other sites in the ArcelorMittal France cluster, including the finishing plants at Mardyck, Desvres, Montataire and Florange. Those links are operated almost entirely by rail.
