Bern (awp/ats) – SBB suffered a loss of 142 million Swiss francs in the first half of 2022. The number of passengers is still around 10% lower than it was before the coronavirus crisis. The Swiss Federal Railways are also concerned about high energy costs.
The half-year result is better than that of the same period last year (-389 million Swiss francs), but it remains negative at -142 million Swiss francs, communicated the CFF on Thursday.
The company is still feeling the effects of the pandemic: demand has stagnated since May at a level around 10% lower than before the health crisis. “In the first half of 2022, a total of 1.1 million passengers traveled daily in regional and mainline traffic, which is 43.9% more than in 2021, but still 15.1% less than before the pandemic. “.
SBB buys energy
The situation remains tense for the company, which is worried about high energy prices. Of course, SBB runs on 90% hydraulic energy, most of which comes from its own power stations. But currently, these produce less energy due to the drought and the low level of the reservoirs.
In order to be able to produce its own electricity in the event of a shortage, the SBB currently keeps its dams as full as possible, they write. This forces them to obtain replacement energy on the market at steeply rising costs.
This situation has already had a negative impact on the result of the Infrastructure Energy segment in the first half of the year, with -24.2 million Swiss francs (2021: +17.5 million Swiss francs). The situation worsened during the summer and will weigh heavily on the 2022 annual result.
ats/vj