In a year of restructuring, terminal closures, layoffs and infrastructure works, SBB Cargo had a complicated 2025. This was also reflected in the company’s annual report, which showed losses spiking and volumes decreasing in what now seems to be a trend even in one of Europe’s rail freight powerhouses: Switzerland.
SBB Cargo lost 122 million CHF (135,1 million euros) in 2025, compared to 76 million CHF (84,1 million euros) in 2024, a -60.4% difference. The higher loss is due to the depreciation of assets, namely “obsolete mainline locomotives and freight wagons”, the company explained on LinkedIn, “without this effect, the deficit would be at the previous year’s level”.
There is also a staggering difference between SBB Cargo’s domestic and international services. In Switzerland, the operator’s volumes have been declining since 2019 and are now below five billion net tonnes/kilometre for the third year in a row, with a 2.9% decrease between 2024 and 2025. SBB Cargo International has also seen its volumes decline since 2021, with a 4.6% drop between 2024 and 2025, but it is steadily above 10 billion net tonnes/kilometre.
‘Only block trains cover their own costs’
Out of the three offer types in SBB Cargo’s portfolio – combined transport, single wagonload and block trains, “only the latter can cover its own costs”, SBB underlined. The combined transport (CT) segment begun its transformation in May, while SWL will be re-organised this year. The transformation of CT has not been the smoothest, as it brought the closure of eight terminals across Switzerland with the consequent loss of dozens of jobs.
While waiting for the renovation of the SWL business, 2025 brought some positive news. The Swiss government approved a four-year scheme for financial support to operators offering SWL services in Switzerland both with compensation and investments. In total, 260 million CHF (287 million euros) will be deployed until 2029 for this initiative and, since SBB Cargo is the sole provider of this services, it will get all of them.