The German national rail freight operator DB Cargo is working hard to become financially viable. It needs to do so as a requirement for the European Commission’s earlier approval of €1.9 billion in restructuring aid. The good news for DB Cargo: the German operator showed some promising results in H1 2026 on its way to profitability.
The transformation objective on the horizon is a total, cumulative positive earnings contribution of €1 billion by 2030. That is a long way off from where DB Cargo is now, but the company has taken steps in the right financial direction.
DB Cargo decided to take a variety of measures to improve its position. The operator is reducing its workforce, reducing (or streamlining) its single wagonload service offering, focusing on international markets and changing its corporate culture to improve its performance.
DB Cargo’s efforts in more detail, according to the H1 2026 report:
- A reduction of the German workforce by around 6,200 employees by 2030, supported by an agreement with the works council and EVG on a social plan
- Streamlining planning, dispatching and administrative structures
- Consolidating workshop capacity along the main production corridors, while retaining mobile maintenance teams and selling selected workshop sites
- Reorganising single wagonload operations around four main hubs and additional regional hubs from 2027, while aiming to retain around 98% of current traffic volumes with fewer freight facilities
- Improving punctuality, empty wagon management, customer delivery reliability and staff productivity
- Introducing more flexible job profiles and reducing production costs
- Using Mannheim marshalling yard as a pilot site for operational improvements before rolling them out elsewhere
- Seeking long-term public funding to offset the estimated €270,000,000 annual structural disadvantage of single wagonload transport compared with block trains
While it is implementing these measures, DB Cargo is getting very close to profitability despite difficult market circumstances. It achieved Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (adjusted EBIT) of -€1 million during the first six months of 2026. In H1 2025, this figure was -€96 million. The operator is just one million euros short of achieving a positive adjusted EBIT.
DB Cargo’s transformation measures contributed €171 million to adjusted EBIT during H1 2026, according to the DB report.
Without taking into account depreciation and amortisation, the company’s earnings (adjusted EBITDA) were €156 million. This is an improvement of 123% compared to H1 2025, when adjusted EBITDA was €70 million. Revenue was €2.48 billion, -1.9% compared to the same period of the previous year.
No cause for celebration
Despite the near-positive adjusted EBIT figure, the half-yearly report remains rather negative in tone. There is, perhaps, not too much cause for celebration indeed. Whereas the EBIT result seems promising, transport performance is down significantly, and DB Cargo has lost a lot of its workforce along the way. The main financial improvement came from cost reductions, rather than growth.
The half-yearly report specifies that the entire DB Cargo group, which includes its international enterprises, currently employs 24,229 FTEs. This is nearly 3,000 less (-10.8%) than in H1 2025. The operator will continue to reduce its workforce as it plans to lay off a total of 6,200 people by 2030.
On the financial side, the workforce reduction has saved DB Cargo some €70 million (-6.9% in personnel costs year-on-year). Collective wage increases, severance payments and phased-retirement costs partially offset the wage savings.
Besides the workforce issue, transport performance also weighed on the H1 2026 picture. The DB Cargo group overall transported 78.2 million tonnes of goods (-5.7%). In Germany alone, it moved 63.7 million tonnes of goods (-0.2%). Performance in tonne-kilometres amounted to 28,781 million. In Germany alone, this number was 18,096 million tonne-kilometres.
What’s behind the performance decline?
The main drivers for the broad performance decline were disruption caused by the severe winter at the beginning of 2026, the deterioration of infrastructure operations, and the closure of the Rubi Tunnel in Spain, DB explains. Average train loading (576.9 tonnes, +6.4%) increased due to the greater use of heavier trains in Eastern Europe. DB Cargo outsourced traction services in the block train segment more often, which also contributed to the positive train loading dynamic.
All in all, DB Cargo’s revenue declined by €48 million (-1.9%). DB highlights that this decline occurred due to shareholding transactions (including the sale of Transfesa business activities).
By contrast, DB Cargo sourced other operating income from the sale of locomotives and the scrapping of freight wagons. A decrease in government subsidies partially undid these one-off gains, however. The operator does not specify how much it received in single wagonload and track access charge support. In 2025, DB Cargo received over €300 million in subsidies.
Market outlook
The poor rail freight performance in the broader German market, not just at DB Cargo, reflects the weak overall economic conditions as well as capacity restrictions on the rail infrastructure, says DB.
“Bulk commodities such as coal, coke and refined petroleum products recorded particularly sharp declines in the first quarter of 2026. The declining production of the chemical and automotive industries was also reflected in transport volumes, which were 4.9% and 3.0% below the comparable period of the previous year respectively”, the company says.
Combined transport and container handling at North Sea ports also declined significantly during this period, according to DB. The primary reason for this trend is the ongoing industrial production slump in sectors that have historically supported the rail freight market. Global trade barriers are complicating this development. Notably, the diversion of Chinese imports toward new markets is worsening the rail freight outlook across the European continent.
Moreover, the burden of energy costs continues to hurt output in manufacturing sectors, such as the automotive and chemical sectors.
Improvement measures
In this context, DB Cargo aims to implement three strategic developments towards its 2030 goal of positive earnings contribution of €1 billion. These include the introduction of an integrated European sales model with “joint market development and Europe-wide sales strategies”.
Additionally, DB Cargo wants to implement cross-border corridor operations on the north-south, south-west and eastern European corridors. It also seeks to improve capacity management, together with stronger integration between business sectors, operations and European subsidiaries at international interfaces, the operator says.