According to internal documents, Deutsche Bahn slipped even deeper into the red in 2023 than expected. The state-owned company has a bottom line loss of two billion euros, according to the news agency Reuters citing the documents. At the end of 2023, the group had expected a loss of only around 1.3 billion.
For comparison: in 2022, the railway’s loss was just over 200 million euros, and sales were a good 56 billion euros. This has now shrunk, it was said, to just 45 billion euros. Here too, the railway calculated almost a billion euros more a few months ago. Despite the high losses, the group is planning to return to profitability in 2024. At least without interest and tax payments, the plus should be around 1.3 billion euros. According to the report, a railway spokeswoman did not want to comment on the figures and referred to the annual press conference next week.
Two factors are likely to be the main reasons for the slump: On the one hand, the railway has to invest large sums in the ailing rail network. It has made advance payments for this in 2023 and is still expecting committed funds of several hundred million euros from the state. These should flow in 2024, which is partly the reason why the railway wants to get back into the profit zone this year, at least in terms of operating results. Secondly, the profits of the international freight forwarding subsidiary Schenker fell to a good one billion euros. Schenker was unable to compensate for the railway’s losses in Germany.