SWITZERLAND: SBB’s freight business closed the first half of 2026 with a CHF 2m (EUR 2.1m) result, which SBB calls its first balanced result in many years. SBB Cargo AG will be merged into SBB AG on 1 January 2027, ending its status as a separate company.
SBB said in its half-year statement that the freight result improved by CHF 49m (EUR 52.2m) against the first half of 2025. From January the business will be run as a freight division of the parent company, together with SBB Cargo International AG and ChemOil Logistics AG.
The merger closes the process the group began in 2023 when it took full ownership of SBB Cargo AG. The federal government requires freight to be self-financing by 2033.
What produced the break-even
The half-year statement lists four contributions to the result:
Federal funding for national single wagonload traffic. The amount received in the half-year is not stated.
Efficiency measures across the group.
Transport prices set to cover costs.
Income from sales of rolling stock. Which vehicles were sold is not stated.
SBB reports international freight as developing positively over the period, without giving a figure. Domestic transport volumes continue to fall, and the statement names this as the remaining challenge for the business.
One freight division from 2027
SBB Cargo AG will be integrated into SBB AG on the balance sheet from 1 January 2027. The new freight division will hold SBB Cargo International AG, in which SBB AG owns 75%, and ChemOil Logistics AG, which it owns outright. The international unit runs transalpine traffic through the Gotthard and Lötschberg base tunnels.
Employees transfer to SBB AG on 1 June 2027 with unchanged terms of employment.
The group gives three reasons for the step: less complexity, more efficient management and a stronger anchoring of freight within the company. It also counts the change as a contribution to meeting the federal requirement on self-financing.
Self-financing by 2033
A new production model for national single wagonload traffic takes effect in December 2026 and is expected to improve the economics of the business from that point. The group is closing 50 freight points from the same month. Combined transport was reorganised at the start of 2026, and a combined transport shuttle is running in test operation on the north–south axis.
The group as a whole posted a profit of CHF 126m (EUR 134.3m) for the half-year, against CHF 48m (EUR 51.2m) a year earlier. It says it needs an annual profit of around CHF 500m (EUR 533m) in the medium term to fund fleet renewal and service expansion, and more than that in the longer term.