Czech state-owned rail freight operator ČD Cargo recorded a loss of almost 38 million euros (945 million CZK) in 2024. This is a big step back from the company, who had a positive result of over 29 million euros in 2023.
In other words, the company lost 67 million euros between 2023 and 2024. Last year was also the first time that ČD Cargo posted negative economic results in the 2020s. “The economic result was negatively affected primarily by (…) provisions for severance pay for employees and the reduction in the value of assets that will become redundant in the coming years” said Tomáš Tóth, Chairman of the Board of Directors of ČD Cargo.
The decrease in rail freight, Tóth added, is also linked to a decline in transportation of brown coal, lower metallurgic production and less demand for wood transport services in the Czech domestic market. The company stated that last year’s loss will be remedied by the retained earnings from previous years.
The rest of the ČD Group
ČD Cargo is part of the state-owned railway holding ČD Group, which also includes passenger operator České dráhy (ČD). Contrary to the freight segment, the company posted positive results in 2024 for 83 million euros. The passenger operator experienced the opposite trend compared to ČD Cargo in the past few years. The latter, as seen above, lost dozen of million of euros in the past 4 years. On the other hand, the passenger operator went from negative 88 million euros in 2021 to 83 million euros in 2024.
