SBB Cargo

SBB Cargo is a subsidiary of Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) specialising in railfreight. Swiss Federal Railways is a former state-owned company that was transformed in 1999 into a joint-stock company under special legislation and divided up into three independent divisions: Passenger Traffic, Freight and Infrastructure. The headquarters of Swiss Federal Railways SBB Cargo AG the Freight division's official designation is in Basel. Since 2000 SBB Cargo’s CEO has been Daniel Nordmann. The company has around 4,500 employees. SBB Cargo is the Swiss market leader in railfreight and the number two operator on the transalpine North-South corridor that links the North Sea ports and Germany with Italy.

Strategy

Since the liberalisation of Europe's railways, railway undertakings have been entitled to infrastructure access rights across the European network. SBB Cargo pursues an aggressive strategy of growth on the North-South route and is continuously expanding its services. Its declared aim is to be the leading provider of railfreight services on routes between the North Sea ports and northern Italy. This strategy is based on a philosophy of continuous responsibility throughout the entire transport process. To help it achieve this, SBB Cargo has established subsidiaries in Germany and Italy. These companies operate within their home countries using their own fleets of locomotives and staff. SBB Cargo is thus in direct competition with other freight operators in Germany and Italy.

Production system in Switzerland

SBB Cargo’s basic network in Switzerland serves 323 delivery points. It also services 200 customer-specific routes outside its basic network. Freight traffic in Switzerland is routed through the three major marshalling yards at Basel-Muttenz, Zurich-Limmattal und Lausanne-Renens. These marshalling yards are operated by SBB Infrastructure. The Gotthard line is SBB Cargo's major transit route. The second transalpine axis through the Lötschberg and Simplon tunnels is used primarily by competitor BLS, although SBB Cargo does run some trains on this route. Rail accounts for 65% of transalpine traffic in Switzerland – the highest market share of any European country. In October 2006 SBB Cargo operated its first train on the Brenner Pass route between Austria and Italy.

Production systems in Germany

SBB Cargo Deutschland was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Duisburg. The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of SBB Cargo, plans, schedules and operates freight trains in Germany. It currently runs 360 trains a week. Rakes and block trains are operated between the following German towns and cities: Duisburg, Cologne, Saarbrücken, Ludwigshafen/Mannheim, Freiburg im Breisgau, Lübeck and Bremerhaven. Road-rail transhipment centres in Weil am Rhein, Worms and Duisburg are served.

Production systems in Italy

SBB Cargo Italia was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Gallarate. The company is also a wholly owned subsidiary of SBB Cargo, and plans, schedules and operates freight trains in Italy. It also trains locomotive drivers. 260 trains a week now operate under the aegis of SBB Cargo Italia. Rakes and block trains are operated between the following Italian towns and cities: Desio, Lecco, Oggiono, Molteno, Carimate, Gallarate, Novara, Melzo, Brescia, Padua, Turin and Trecate. Road-rail transhipment centres in Desio, Brescia and Orbassano (near Turin) are served.

Services

SBB Cargo divides its services into wagonloads (Cargo Rail and Cargo Express), block trains (Cargo Train) and intermodal traffic (traction services for intermodal trains run by all major operators such as Hupac, ERS, Hannibal, ICF and the company's own Cargo Domino).

Rolling stock

At the end of 2005 SBB Cargo had 10,800 wagons of its own (a quarter of which are low-noise) plus 429 mainline and 277 shunting locomotives. 94 of these are suitable for cross-border operations.

Key figures

SBB Cargo operated 11.15 billion net tonne-kilometres in 2005, a 13.4% increase on the previous year’s figure. This improvement is primarily due to international business on the North-South corridor, since domestic traffic shrank slightly. SBB Cargo carried nearly 56 million net tonnes of freight; 32 million tonnes of this was domestic freight, the remainder came from the North-South route. Despite an improved performance, the company still posted an operating loss of CHF 55.7 million. Combined with extraordinary costs of CHF 110 million, the total loss was around CHF 165 million.

Investment in subsidiaries

In addition to its wholly owned subsidiaries SBB Cargo Italia Srl and SBB Cargo Deutschland, SBB Cargo also owns the entire share capital of ChemOil Logistics AG in Basel (transport of chemicals and petroleum products) and has minority holdings in RAlpin AG, Berne (30%), Hupac SA, Chiasso (23.85%) and Termini SA, Chiasso (20%).

External links

• SSB Cargo website