The Polish national rail freight operator PKP Cargo has sold 106 decommissioned locomotives for the equivalent of about €6 million. The sale is part of a bigger effort to get rid of unused rolling stock. Another 231 locomotives are still up for sale.
PKP Cargo is selling the rolling stock through auctions, which were first announced in early March 2026. The lot included both electric and diesel locomotives, among them more than 100 ET22s (the most common type in PKP Cargo’s fleet) and rebuilt ST45 and ST46 units. Purchasers are not required to scrap the locomotives. Rather, they are allowed to repair and renovate the locomotives to put them back into use.
The operator explained earlier that it is selling the locomotives to optimise costs. The vehicles had been inoperable or out of service for extended periods of time. As a result of market conditions, there are no prospects for taking them back into service, PKP Cargo said. PKP Cargo is currently in restructuring proceedings and seeks to match its business model to current market demand. Selling the decommissioned locomotives is part of that effort.
A modest sum of money
The 106 sold locomotives yielded the equivalent of €6 million. PKP Cargo will use the funds to implement other points in its restructuring plan. It is a modest sum of money, however. For example, the cash injection would only cover a fraction of the company’s debt, which it seeks to repay through the restructuring plan.
In June 2025, PKP Cargo filed a court restructuring plan covering nearly €700 million of debt, but this is still being negotiated. PKP Cargo did not say that the €6 million would be used for this goal. A new auction procedure started for the remaining 231 unsold locomotives on 24 September.
In early January 2026, the operator said it planned to sell 2,831 wrecked freight wagons. In early September 2025 the board had decided to sell 6,696 worn-out wagons, which yielded €28.9 million.
