CZECH REPUBLIC: ČD Cargo made a pre-tax profit of CZK 385m (EUR 16m) in the first half of 2026. It carried 27.8m tonnes of freight, which the state-owned operator says was well above plan.
The figures were released with the half-year report of the České dráhy (ČD) group, which is prepared under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and published on ČD’s investor pages. They cover the ČD Cargo group including its subsidiaries. ČD attributes the improvement to more active selling and the cost cuts of previous years.
The freight operator lost CZK 931m (EUR 38m) in the first half of 2025, according to ČD’s results for the period, and CZK 3.82bn (EUR 157m) in the full year, according to the Czech news agency ČTK. The agency says the loss was caused by a restructuring intended to adapt the company to the market. ČD Cargo disposed of surplus wagons and locomotives and reduced its workforce and other costs.
Volumes above plan
ČD Cargo carried 27.8m tonnes in the six months. ČD describes the volume as significantly higher than the company had planned and roughly level with a year earlier.
The ČD Cargo group carried 29.9m tonnes in the first half of 2025, of which 26.4m tonnes moved on ČD Cargo’s own trains, according to the agency. The release does not give the planned volume.
Group result
The ČD group as a whole made more than CZK 2bn (EUR 82m) before tax, nearly CZK 1.6bn (EUR 66m) more than a year earlier. ČD calls it the best half-year in the group’s history. Passenger transport contributed CZK 1.489bn (EUR 61m), and every company in the group ended the period in profit.
The period is the last full half-year under former chief executive Michal Krapinec. Lenka Hamplová took over as chair of the board and chief executive on 1 September. She said the company faces demanding tenders for public service contracts and has to keep raising efficiency to win them.
State-owned freight operators
ČD Cargo’s result comes in a shrinking market. Rail freight in the EU fell 1.8% to 368.2bn tonne-kilometres in 2025, the fourth annual decline in a row, according to Eurostat.
DB Cargo chief executive Bernhard Osburg has said the German operator is unlikely to break even this year. The European Commission approved EUR 1.9bn in restructuring aid for DB Cargo on the condition of long-term profitability by the end of 2026. The company is cutting roughly 6,200 of around 14,000 full-time positions in Germany and has widened its review to 16 foreign subsidiaries.