SBB Cargo International | RailFreight.com

Nordic Re-Finance and SBB Cargo conclude leaseback deal for 31 locomotives

Dennis van der Laan — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 09:22:05 +0000

Locomotive leasing company Nordic Re-Finance and SBB Cargo have entered into an agreement for the sale and leasing back of 31 Traxx AC1 electric locomotives. SBB Cargo Switzerland is selling the rolling stock, and SBB Cargo International will lease them back from the Nordic company.
The deal supports Nordic Re-Finance’s ambition to expand its fleet of modern and interoperable electric locomotives for the European rail freight market, the company writes. It also creates “immediate value” and stable cash flows, according to CEO Thorsten Priebe.

For SBB Cargo, the deal creates financial and operational flexibility. “We are pleased to partner with Nordic Re-Finance under a full‑service leasing structure for our international transport solutions. As lessee and operator, we trust that Nordic Re‑Finance will ensure the continued availability and reliable operation of the locomotives”, commented SBB Cargo International’s Head of Strategic Procurement, Tobias Gras.

Traxx AC1 locomotives are well-established in international European freight operations, according to Nordic Re-Finance, and are known for their reliability and operational flexibility.

Partnership with Infranity

Earlier, in December 2025, Nordic Re-Finance acquired 15 electric locomotives from DB Cargo Scandinavia. The SBB Cargo transaction marks its second fleet acquisition since March 2025, when French investment company Infranity took a majority share in the locomotive leasing company.

SBB Cargo International opens up shop in France

Marco Raimondi — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 09:26:25 +0000

SBB Cargo International’s newest subsidiary, SBB Cargo France, finally received its safety certificate from France from the European Railway Agency. “From the start of operations at the next timetable change, some services will be operated via France”, SBB Cargo International said.
SBB Cargo France was established last April to start providing services along the left bank of the Rhine through the French region of Alsace. This route is now becoming increasingly important as the main line connecting Basel with Karlsruhe, one of the main bottlenecks along the Rhine-Alpine axis, will not be fully expanded until the 2040s.

The newly founded company has also trained drivers from both Switzerland and France. “While one part of the team will operate national routes in future, the other part will be able to operate both national and international routes”, they specified. SBB Cargo France will be headquartered in Huningue, not too far from the French border with Switzerland.

Hupac: “Necessary to expand the railway lines on the left bank of the Rhine in France”

Dennis van der Laan — Mon, 09 Sep 2024 10:05:37 +0000

In cooperation with an international group of partners, Swiss rail operator Hupac organised a diversion of the Rhine Valley route on non-electrified railways along the French side of the Rhine. The company hails the diversion as a success, and now calls upon the region’s infrastructure to be expanded entirely for future use.
Germany’s Rhine Valley route was closed during the month of August. As a result, rail freight operators had to find another route to bypass it and prevent a much-feared reverse modal shift. Hupac, SBB Cargo International, Captrain France, DB InfraGO and SNCF Réseau cooperated for close to three years to make a diversion possible, which was ultimately organised on non-electrified infrastructure on the French side of the Rhine.

Hupac hails the diversion as a success. “The diesel shuttle on the route on the left bank of the Rhine performed well”, the company says in a press release. Around 20 freight trains could make use of the diversionary route on a daily basis. However, transfer points proved to be a bottleneck, according to Hupac, which was the diversion’s weak point. By the end of the diversion period, capacity was reaching its limits.

The diversionary route shown in red. Image: © Hupac

French infrastructure needs expansion

Subsequently, Hupac is now calling for infrastructure in the French region to be expanded altogether, referring to Transalpine traffic as needing an impetus for a further modal shift. According to the company, the modal shift has been at a standstill for several years.

“The limited capacity of the German rail network is responsible for this stagnation in Switzerland’s modal shift policy”, Hans-Jörg Bertschi, chairman of the Board of Directors at Hupac, says. “The planned corridor renovations in Germany, involving the closure of main lines for several months, will aggravate the situation until after 2030.”

“In view of the decades-long backlog in the development of the rail axis on the right bank of the Rhine, increasing traffic via France is the only option to prevent stagnation or even a reversal in the modal shift policy,” Bertschi adds. Hupac wants the Belgium – Metz – Strasbourg – Basel axis to be upgraded to a 4-metre corridor, which could shorten the distance from Dutch and Belgian ports to Switzerland by 110 kilometres.

“Tense situation” in Germany

After the positive experience with the diversion, Hupac says that it is now motivated to expand on transportation on the left bank of the Rhine. It wants to create an alternative to the “tense situation” in Germany due to the large amount of upcoming rail closures. “From 2025 we are planning container transit trains with a suitable profile via France, even if this is not yet possible with 4-metre semi-trailers and involves additional costs,” said a company representative.

First test trains cross the restored tube of the Gotthard Base Tunnel

Marco Raimondi — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 08:40:30 +0000

After a hiatus of over a year, the first trains were deployed as a trial in the western tube of the Gotthard Base Tunnel, rebuilt after a derailment. Concerning freight, the first train, operated by SBB Cargo International, ran today in the early morning on the Ludwigshafen-Gallarate route.
The western tube is scheduled to fully reopen on 2 September. The Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) said that the tests which have been and are being carried out are similar to those conducted in 2016 for the Gotthard Base Tunnel’s inauguration. “The test phase with measurement, test and service trains was successfully completed last week”, SBB said.

The derailment in the Gotthard Base Tunnel

The accident occurred in the early afternoon of Thursday, 10 August 2023 near the Faido interchange, a gate separating the western and eastern tubes. A faulty wheel on a wagon of a freight train operated by SBB Cargo caused a derailment that significantly damaged the infrastructure of the western tube.

Once a temporary gate was placed, freight traffic could gradually restart in the eastern tube of the Gotthard Base Tunnel. The repair works, which took about a year, cost over 100 million euros, with 7 kilometres of railway, including 20,000 sleepers and the ballast underneath, being completely replaced.

Damaged gate at Faido interchange. Image: © Swiss Federal Railways

Hupac to implement temporary service to respond to Rhine Valley line closure

Marco Raimondi — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 09:10:55 +0000

The Rhine Valley line near Rastatt, in Germany, will be closed between 9 and 30 August 2024. Alternative routes within the country are not optimal, especially for the transport of semi-trailers. Swiss rail freight operator Hupac will thus implement a new solution through France to continue to provide these services.
With the new initiative, Hupac will deploy eleven diesel locomotives and 80 drivers to divert traffic from the Middle Rhine line to the Offenburg-Wörth section. Diesel locomotives are essential in this case as not the whole line is electrified. The drivers will be deployed in pairs. “A German-speaking and a French-speaking colleague share the cab to ensure communication with the national control centres”, Hupac explained.

For this project, Hupac is cooperating with the French and German infrastructure managers (SNCF Réseau and DB InfraGO) and Railway Undertakings SBB Cargo International and Captrain France. The alternative route will go through Offenburg (DE), Lauterbourg (FR) and Wörth (DE). The main issue with the closure of the Rhine Valley line is that the proposed alternatives via Germany, such as the Gäubahn and the Stuttgart-Singen line do not offer enough train slots and cannot accommodate a P400 profile.

In red, the alternative line that Hupac will use between 9 and 30 August 2024. Image: © Hupac

An alternative to the Rhine Valley line remains vital

Creating new and better solutions for rail freight transport across the Rhine Valley has been one of the main issues when it comes to the Rhine-Alpine corridor. Associations in Germany urged their government to create a new infrastructure between Bonn and Mainz-Bischofsheim. However, there does not seem to be much optimism about this initiative. Moreover, Switzerland claimed to be ready to finance the adaptation of the Basel-Strasbourg-Metz railway to the P400 profile for the transport of semi-trailers. This project would provide an alternative line on the left bank of the Rhine River.

SBB Cargo France has no plans to take over Fret SNCF routes

Marco Raimondi — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 06:57:32 +0000

A new subsidiary of the Swiss Federal Railways, christened SBB Cargo France, was recently established to provide services along “the French route through Alsace as an alternative to the German Rhine Valley”. A spokesperson from the company specified that there are no current plans to take over services from Fret SNCF, which is undergoing a major restructuring and was forced to give up several routes.
“That is not our focus, as our French production company is still in the process of being established”, the spokesperson highlighted when discussing a possible takeover of Fret SNCF’s sevices. The main reason behind the creation of this new entity is that “the four-lane expansion of the Rhine Valley route between Karlsruhe and Basel will continue until at least 2042”. This is just one of the main bottlenecks along the Rhine-Alpine Corridor, most of which will persist until at least 2030.

More information to come

Omar Olivier Zarkly, who is a part of SBB Cargo International and also worked with Etihad Rail and DB Cargo France, was appointed as project manager. The new company has its headquarters in Huningue, a French town bordering Basel. Information about the size of SBB Cargo France’s workforce as well as more specifics on the routes and the company’s fleet will be provided throughout the second half of 2024, the spokesperson added. SBB Cargo is already transiting through France from Basel with a connection to Antwerp, in Belgium. However, the establishment of SBB Cargo France aims at creating a connection to Germany.

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SBB’s black results cannot hide single wagonload financial bleed-out

Nikos Papatolios — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 11:35:38 +0000

The Swiss SBB Group brought its finances back to the black in 2023 for the first time since 2019. Strong passenger transport performance led the Group’s recovery. Cargo performance was still in the red for 2023, despite the closing gap of losses (-40 million francs against -191 million francs in 2022). At the same time, overall transport performance decreased by 7.5 per cent.
SBB indicated that the main drivers behind the poor performance of SBB Cargo were “price pressure, the structural deficit in single wagon traffic and the general economic slowdown”. It should be noted that SBB Cargo International also recorded lower volumes compared to 2022, reporting a 0.8 per cent drop. In this case, cross-border infrastructure restrictions, for instance, the Gotthard Base tunnel closure and disruptions in Germany, played a big part in the slow-down.

It may be surprising that despite worsened performance and dropping volumes, SBB Cargo managed to substantially reduce its losses last year. However, one should not forget that this improvement is somehow artificial, considering a substantial write-down (around 130 million francs) in the company’s book value last year.

Single wagonload key negative factor

SBB Group’s statement that the structural deficit of single wagonload transport (SWL) drove last year’s poor performance is indicative of the ongoing debate in Switzerland about this transport segment. In an exclusive interview with RailFreight.com last October, an SBB Cargo spokesperson noted that “SBB intends to eliminate the structural deficit in freight traffic with the support of the Confederation in single-wagonload traffic”.

In doing so, the first step was to return the company to state hands to provide easier access to
state funds for SWL. The next step would be to simplify SWL’s structure to facilitate the funding process by streamlining the needed investments accordingly and providing a clear focus when applying for them. The Swiss Railway Group insisted on this approach during its latest financial report, recognising that SWL’s deficits need to be addressed as soon as possible and that the Swiss government will have a big role to play in that.

‘Deal with the problematic child’

VAP, a Swiss shipper’s association, agrees that SWL conditions need to improve substantially. However, it does not agree with SBB’s approach. VAP believes that SBB Cargo continues to be the Group’s “problematic child” and thinks that direct state involvement and subsidisation of SWL will not do the trick. Additionally, it does not agree with SWL’s restructuring.

Instead, the shipper’s association argues for a different take on the situation that will involve increasingly less state involvement. “We are calling for targeted, degressive and temporary bridging funding for a sustainable transformation of the SWL towards self-sufficiency. Only in this way can the SWL modernise and grow,” said the organisation.

European rail freight companies unite against DB Netz’s cancellation fees

Marco Raimondi — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 08:22:17 +0000

Seven of the largest rail freight companies in Europe are jointly asking German infrastructure manager DB Netz to review their cancellation fee that will be applied in 2024. The companies are Rail Cargo Group, SBB Cargo, SBB Cargo International, Metrans, Lineas, CFL Cargo, and BLS Cargo.
More specifically, the parties are calling for the “mandatory review of reasons for cancellation by DB Netz AG and adjustment of market-compatible cancellation fees”. As a possible solution, they are suggesting that these fees should be based on the total volumes moved by each Railway Undertaking. Multiple representatives from DB Netz were contacted about the reasoning behind the new fee and their next steps in response to the letter, but no answer has been received as of yet.

Under the current scheme, companies that cancelled train paths had to pay a minimum fee of 0,05 euro/path kilometre, with a cap set at 491 euros. The new rule, on the other hand, entails that companies have to pay a much higher fee for all cancellations from 30 November 2023 “for the following timetable year for each cancelled individual train path”. The issue of cancellation fees in Europe was also recently addressed by the European Rail Freight Association, which said they could make the rail freight sector less flexible and predictable.

The new cancellation fee is more expensive and more disruptive

The main issues with the cancellation fee for 2024 planned by DB Netz brought up in the joint letter are various. First, the fee is increasing by 600 per cent, from 0,05 euro/path kilometre to 0,30 euro/path kilometre. Moreover, the signatories find that this initiative shows “strong discrimination against the rail freight sector”. This is because companies offering passenger services only have to pay a 2 per cent cancellation fee, whereas road freight companies do not pay any cancellation fee at all.

Moreover, this new cancellation fee is also likely to disrupt rail freight operations, according to the signatories. Regular train paths in Germany, as they explained, have to be booked in April. However, it is unrealistic to expect that all these bookings will go exactly as planned due to volumes, destination markets, and routes changing. With the new cancellation fee, companies will have to pay the penalty in all these cases. Other disruptions could come from the fact that companies would start booking significantly more short-term orders, making the planning system even more unstable than it currently is.

In addition, cancelling train paths after their scheduled departure has become more expensive than actually running a train, as was mentioned in the letter. There also seems to be a discrepancy when it comes to consequences for cancelling a train path. As the signatories pointed out, DB Netz is not obligated to compensate RUs when the cancellation comes from them. Finally, “the new cancellation regulations do not provide for any special consideration of extraordinary reasons for cancellation that are beyond the RU’s control”, as the letter underlined.

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Decision for Rhine-Alpine alternative on Rhine left bank is now up to France

Marco Raimondi — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 04:00:34 +0000

Pledges to find alternative rail freight routes along the left bank of the Rhine river have been discussed for a few months now due to rising capacity bottlenecks along the main line. Now the ball seems to be in the hands of France, which should make a decision on the matter by next autumn.
According to German local media Die Rheinpfalz, Switzerland has already given its green light to create a continuous route on the left bank of the Rhine. The country has given its availability to fund part of the project already last May. However, it is not clear yet how much the Helvetic Confederation is willing to spend on this. Another reason for the necessity of alternative routes is that the Rhine Valley Railway, connecting Karlsruhe to Basel, will not be ready before 2040-2045, as Hupac mentioned.

A debate launched in August

Last August, various Swiss rail freight companies, including Hupac, SBB Cargo International, VAP, and BLS Cargo, proposed four solutions to boost rail freight traffic on the left bank of the Rhine. One of them is the upgrade of the border-crossing railway connecting Worth, in Germany, with Strasbourg, in France. The parties involved pointed out that with relatively small investments, it would be possible to have 60 daily freight trains running through this route in 10 years.

The other solutions suggested by the companies include easier access to diversion routes via France, and better management of corridor renovations in Germany. For the diversion of routes, the idea is to lift the ban on night rail traffic and hire bilingual staff to facilitate communications with German-speaking train conductors. For the management of corridor renovation, the parties are asking that alternative routes should always be available in case lines are closed for upgrade works. Moreover, they are highlighting the importance of a collaborative effort from infrastructure managers of the Rhine-Alpine corridor.

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SBB Cargo notes substantial financial losses

John Versleijen — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 04:15:55 +0000

Last year, the Swiss rail freight operator SBB Cargo saw its financial losses catastrophically increase from 1,2 million euros in 2021 to a negative result of 191 million euros. That was almost 80 per cent of the total loss of the mother company SBB in 2022.
The reason for the bad state of affairs at SBB Cargo, according to its mother company, was a substantial write-down of no less than 130,5 million euros on the company’s book value. In addition, there was the loss of corona support last year.

One-time correction

According to the management, the depreciation is a ‘one-off correction’ resulting from a ‘valuation test’ last year. This brought to light that the stated value of SBB Cargo AG in the books was no longer sufficient.

The fact that there had to be so much depreciation had everything to do with the uncertain prospects for rail freight transport in Switzerland, which can only be kept afloat with a lot of government support.

At the end of last year, the Swiss government shared plans to possibly exclude single wagonload traffic from financial support schemes. Single wagonload is an integral part of rail freight transport in Switzerland, and according to SBB’s management, the financial uncertainty has major consequences for the value of its cargo division.

International losses too

SBB Cargo International also dealt with many headwinds last year. The loss for the international freight carrier rose from just under 306,000 euros in 2021 to almost 20 million euros last year. This financial setback was caused by, among other things, the disruptions to the German rail network due to construction work and the high electricity costs.

This article appeared originally on our sister publication NT.nl.

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