Weak market conditions weigh on RCG’s 2025 results

Since 2023, Central Europe has been experiencing an industrial recession. The consequences include weak freight volumes and increasingly intense competition in the logistics market: many providers are competing for a comparatively small number of orders. At the same time, the competitive environment for rail freight is becoming increasingly challenging relative to road transport. A high level of construction activity on the rail network — particularly in Germany, but also in other parts of Europe — is affecting the stability of operations. In addition, rail continues to face cost pressure from traction power prices that remain high by historical standards. As a result, three major developments are currently weighing on rail transport: declining transport volumes, increasing price competition, and structural competitive disadvantages.

A challenging year in figures 

Overall, RCG ended 2025 with EBT of EUR -135.5 million (previous year: EUR -24.5 million). The result was mainly driven by a one-off impairment and losses in the agricultural segment. Given the subdued economic outlook, ÖBB management reassessed future earnings and investment projections and wrote down goodwill at its Hungarian investments and agricultural forwarding business by EUR 81.1 million. Even excluding this one-off effect, the result would still have been negative at EUR -54 million. The agricultural sector alone weighed on earnings by around EUR 36 million. This was primarily due to shifts in goods flows caused by poor harvests, weak market conditions, and trade and tariff distortions resulting from US tariff policy. Without the write-down and the losses in the agricultural sector, earnings would have been roughly in line with the previous year.

Competition program „Phoenix” 

Economic researchers do not expect any meaningful recovery in the industrial economy in 2026. This makes the “Phoenix” programme, which RCG is currently implementing, all the more important. Among the approximately 300 measures are the discontinuation of non-competitive products, the targeted increase of capacity utilisation on in-demand connections, and organisational streamlining. At the same time, delivering reliable quality for customers remains the top priority. 

Investing in the future of rail freight transport 

Despite the currently challenging framework conditions, RCG continues to invest consistently in the future of rail freight transport. The objective is to make the system more efficient, more competitive, and more attractive over the long term. A key building block in this effort is Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC), which has the potential to fundamentally transform rail freight transport. At the same time, RCG is continuing to expand its multimodal logistics offering. By intelligently linking rail, road, and other modes of transport, RCG is creating flexible and sustainable transport solutions for customers across Europe. Through these initiatives, RCG is actively advancing the development of rail freight and creating the conditions required to remain successful over the long term, even in a challenging market environment.

17.04.2026