The Swiss railway firm SBB Cargo is going through a severe financial crisis that began in 2022, when it reported a loss of 187 million Swiss francs (approximately 200 million euros), compared with a profit of one million francs (around one million euros) the previous year. Losses continued into 2023 and 2024, which the company attributed both to the broader European economic climate and to ongoing routine and extraordinary maintenance works that have caused delays and driven up costs. In response, senior management has launched a programme aimed at reducing costs by at least 60 million francs (roughly 64 million euros) by 2030. These measures include significant job cuts, a reorganisation of services and changes to the pricing model, raising concerns among trade unions and industry stakeholders.
With regard to staffing, the plan will be implemented in several phases. As early as February 2025, SBB Cargo had announced its intention to eliminate around 80 full-time positions by the end of the year, affecting both administrative and operational staff. This initial move impacts a workforce that currently includes around 2,250 full-time employees. On 20 May 2025, the company confirmed a further reduction of 65 jobs, mainly targeting locomotive drivers, shunting staff and technical controllers of freight trains. The long-term outlook is even more alarming: by 2030, SBB Cargo plans to cut its workforce by roughly one fifth compared to the approximately 2,120 jobs in place at the end of 2024.
The company has stated that the cuts will be implemented “as socially responsibly as possible”. Therefore, no redundancies are planned, and the reductions will rely on internal transfers within the wider SBB group and natural attrition, such as retirements that will not be fully replaced. Staff relocations between cantons are also on the table, as some regions have surplus staff while others are understaffed. However, the SEV trade union remains unconvinced and has branded the job cuts a “disgrace”, warning that they will lead to a shortage of highly skilled personnel without generating any positive economic outcome, ultimately pushing freight shipments from rail to road.
In the intermodal transport sector, SBB Cargo has announced that in 2026 it will implement the Suisse Cargo Logistics concept, based on a shuttle service operating along the north-south axis to strengthen the transalpine connection between Dietikon and Stabio. Should the pilot phase of this service deliver good results, the concept may also be extended to the east-west axis, with upgrades to the required infrastructure, such as the trimodal terminal Gateway Basel Nord.
At the same time, CEO Alexander Muhm is leading a team of 45 people on a project dubbed G-enesis, aimed at streamlining, modernising, automating, optimising, standardising and digitalising operations. The plan includes a drastic downsizing of the single-wagon freight network and an increase in tariffs. Moreover, services considered unprofitable, particularly those involving DB Cargo's transit trains, will be discontinued.
While planning workforce reductions, the Swiss company is also speeding up the automation of shunting operations, particularly with the rollout of single-operator procedures involving automatic coupling, automated brake tests and locomotive collision warning systems. SBB Cargo is playing a pioneering role in Europe when it comes to the implementation of the digital automatic coupling system (DAK).
The impact of these measures on the market could be significant. It is estimated that scaling back full wagonload transport could shift around 15 percent of freight volume onto roads. At least eight terminals are expected to be shut down, including two in Ticino (Cadenazzo and Lugano), with road-to-rail transshipment to be handled by private facilities. This decision has raised concerns among the hauliers’ association Astag, which has also criticised the planned increase in rail freight tariffs, expected to range between 15 and 20 percent.
