Due to the sharp decline in international rail freight transport due to the corona virus crisis, ÖBB Rail Cargo apparently needs state aid. The daily newspaper “Der Standard” today cited the need for “at least 250 million euros”, citing insider information. But ÖBB passenger transport could also apply for aid.
According to the newspaper, government circles are expecting a financial requirement of around 500 million euros for the entire Bundesbahnen Group. ÖBB is already in direct negotiations with the Ministry of Finance, but these are not yet as advanced as with the AUA. There were no official statements from the Ministry of Finance or from the ÖBB.
Significantly fewer passengers
Not only in freight transport, but also in passenger transport, the ÖBB posted enormous passenger declines due to the crisis and could therefore need state aid, the report said. ÖBB has not yet been able to quantify how high the turnover loss in passenger transport is.
More details could possibly be given tomorrow in the number template. However, the Western Railway anticipates a failure of around 16 euros per kilometer or a total of around seven million euros, writes the “Standard”.
It had already become known last week that, according to a preliminary estimate, ÖBB had to send around 10,000 employees on short-time work.
–
–
