In the first half of 2018, DB Cargo suffered an operating loss of 127 million Euros in earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT). In the same period last year, Deutsche Bahn’s rail freight subsidiary came to a loss of 28 million Euros.

Traffic performance in tonne-kilometres fell 6.7 per cent. Due to the poor figures of DB Cargo, the EBIT results at parent company Deutsche Bahn also fell by 17.4 per cent to 974 million Euros. However, turnover increased by 2.8 per cent to 21.5 billion euros, the railway company said.

Reorganization

DB Cargo has been in a reorganisation for years. Freight transport by rail is under pressure and DB Cargo is struggling with a number of loss-making activities, such as the transport of wagons. As they are few, managing these wagons requires expensive shunting work. For example, they have to be collected from large shippers and assembled into complete trains elsewhere.

In previous years, strategic plans for DB Cargo have been drawn up, which ultimately have to provide growth again. However, these plans have yielded little so far.