The Canal Seine-Nord Europe
It might still be six years from completion and opening, but the new European gauge Canal Seine-Nord Europe will re-shape the movement of commercial freight between France and the Low Countries – and it will open-up a choice of new high-capacity inland cruise routes north of Paris. Earthworks for this €4.6bn project are well under way ahead of scheduled opening in 2030. The comprehensive planning of the project includes a cycle-way which will offer off-road cycling down to Compiègne with links to towpath cycling along the length of the Somme between Péronne and the sea, and elsewhere across the region.
The new waterway will take over from the smaller Canal du Nord over a course of more than 100km between Compiègne (just off map) and its junction with the main Dunkirk-Escaut navigation not far from Arras. The existing 120km of the River Oise south of Pont L’Évêque will extend the new waterway to its confluence with the Seine at Conflans with vessels then able to head either downstream for Rouen and Le Havre, or upstream into Paris. There will be six locks on the new canal – all of 185x12m dimensions to match the scale of the seven locks already in situ on the Oise. Payload capacity for freight barges will increase from 650 tonnes on The Canal du Nord to 4,400 tonnes on the new canal.
The Canal Seine-Nord Europe will join the Canal de la Sensée between Arras and Cambrai and from here long-distance traffic will be able to follow any of several existing major waterway routes to and from places further north. The shortest path to the sea will take vessels to Dunkirk via Béthune and St-Omer; the Escaut (Scheldt) will connect with Gent and onwards to the Scheldt Estuary, Antwerp, Rotterdam and Amsterdam; the connection through Lille and on to the Lys will link with Bruges to Ostend and Zeebrugge; and river cruise operators may be interested in a more inland track from Amsterdam taking the Meuse via Maastricht and Liège, or the Belgian canal network via Brussels and Mons - though vessel size on those stretches will be limited by the (90m/110m) respectively scale of the Ronquières inclined plane and Strépy-Thieu lift.
This new arterial route is of limited interest to Backwaters as a cruise operation. We are scaled, as our name implies, for the smaller waterways and we focus on being leading-edge green by cruising electric. But, because of its proximity to the UK we are especially interested in cruising in Hauts de France, where the new European-scale navigation will throw cruise tourism potential much more into the spotlight.
Here, I just want to look briefly at the intersection of the Seine-Nord Europe with the canalised River Somme, set in itself to be one of the great constructional wonders and a memorable visitor attraction.
The Somme navigation currently meets the Canal du Nord at river level because the Nord descends through five locks from its northern summit pound down into the Somme Valley. The Nord then uses the Somme as far as Béthencourt before going up and over another watershed further south, so in effect it has two summits. But the Seine-Nord Europe will have just the one summit along its northern portion, and it will then gently descend, sustaining its level across the Somme Valley by means of a 1.3km aqueduct set over 25m above the course of the river below.
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The Somme will still have its connection with the new waterway as the current navigation will be linked via a new junction and deep lock at Allaines, with the two existing Canal du Nord locks at Feuillaucourt and Cléry-sur-Somme retained both for traffic heading downstream on the existing navigation towards Amiens, and upstream to Péronne and beyond. This Google mapview of the current junction of the Nord and the Somme will be transformed as the great aqueduct materialises across the horizon. This underlines that the often embanked pathway of the new navigation will offer some great views across the rural expanse of Artois, Somme and Oise.
For the Somme, the story gets better as south of Péronne its closed section through the town of Ham will be reopened, offering direct connection to the Canal de St-Quentin, Sambre/Oise and Aisne and Champagne-Marne navigations further east and south, previously reachable only via a long dog-leg on the Canal du Nord down to Noyon. The broad-view map shown initially illustrates the potential as Backwaters-scale cruising becomes feasible between the beautiful cities of Amiens and St-Quentin.
The Canal du Nord itself was a major development in broad-beam navigation and will have its place in waterways history. Construction of the canal was started in 1908 but halted by the outbreak of war six years later and such was the destruction that it was not until 1959 that the project was renewed and the route finally opened to boat traffic in the 1960s. Closure of most of the canal will amongst other things question what happens to the 4.3km Ruyaulcourt Tunnel – perhaps that could become a waterway light show and a new tourist attraction in its own right. Get in there Disney!
I’ve ventured forth in past articles about cruising the Somme, the Aisne-Oise circuit, and heading inland out of Calais to St-Omer and Armentières. Such adventures remain of enormous attraction, and there are more of them like the Scarpe out of Arras and onwards to Cambrai, the Canal de Roubaix north of Lille, and the Canal Sambre-Oise into the heart of the Aisne Department. So, in looking at the potential for big-river cruise operations heading to or from Paris, the Region knows it also has a vast network of lesser-scale navigations waiting to be explored. And that is making for some compelling discussions about future programmes and securing the interest of tour operators and groups as the great new European waterway takes shape. Watch this space!
My sincere thanks to David Edwards-May for permission to use his maps.
#rivercruise #cruising #cycleeurope #visitsomme #visitarras #hautsdefrance
Consultant at French Waterways | Leading voice on Luxury Waterway Cruises in France | Expert in Luxury Travel in France
1moAn excellent overview, Lynn - thanks 👍