The Volkswagen Navarra factory in Pamplona, near the Spanish border with France, has slightly reduced the volumes they move via rail. Between 2022 and 2023, there was a decrease from 54.1 per cent to 51.9 per cent in the number of units the company moved via freight trains.

Despite the last drop, the company claimed that over 50 per cent of their units were moved by rail for the third consecutive year. The causes for this drop were the various infrastructure works across the Spanish railway network as well as a lack of train drivers and suitable rolling stock, as explained by Spanish media El Mercantil. In total for 2023, Volkswagen Navarra moved 272,223 units, of which 141,902 were transported by freight convoys.

More than half of Volkswagen vehicles built in Pamplona that travel by rail have their final destination at the port of Barcelona. Another 30 per cent is transported to Santander and 9.1 per cent of them goes to Germany, the main headquarters of the Volkswagen group. The company claimed that transporting more cars by rail is one of its goal, but the lack of reliability and flexibility of the sector is causing a few hiccups.

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