“As happy as we are with these positive developments, a self-critical look shows us that we did not achieve the targets we set,” said DB CEO Dr. Rüdiger Grube at the annual results press conference for the 2015 fiscal year in Berlin. “We need to make far-reaching improvements, and that is why we launched a Group restructuring process and our ‘Zukunft Bahn’ (future of rail operations in Germany) program last year to raise quality in a noticeable way for our customers and thus return to a path of economic success.”
At EUR 40.5 billion, DB’s revenues in 2015 were up EUR 748 million, or 1.9%, from the year prior. At EUR 1.76 billion, adjusted EBIT was down EUR 350 million, or 16.6%, from the previous year’s figure. Due in part to special write-downs in rail freight transport and non-recurring items as a result of the restructuring process – which together amounted to some EUR 1.67 billion – DB posted a net loss for the year of EUR 1.3 billion.
In the rail freight sector, DB’s volume fell by 4.3% year on year, to 98.4 billion metric ton kilometers.
Business at DB Schenker saw a positive trend, with the number of European land transport consignments up 2.9% and air freight volumes up 1.4%. Contract logistics again saw a strong increase in revenues of some 17%. Only ocean freight saw lower volumes, with a drop of 2.1%.
Deutsche Bahn made progress in environmental protection in 2015, raising the percentage of renewables in traction power by 2.4 percentage points to 42.0%. The company also retrofitted more than 6,000 freight cars with whisper brakes, raising the total number of retrofitted freight cars by a good 90% year on year. By the end of this year, half of all DB’s freight cars will be retrofitted; by 2020, all of them.
