BERLIN — Deutsche Bahn, Germany’s state-owned railway, said Wednesday it slumped to a net loss last year as a result of investments in modernization, even as sales rose, a wire service reported.
The loss came in at 205 million euros (dlrs 179 million), Deutsche Bahn said. That compared with a profit of 199 million euros the previous year. Revenue increased 1.6 percent, the company said, without naming a figure.
Deutsche Bahn is on a drive to cut costs and boost efficiency to make the sprawling railroad fit for possible privatization — a government goal since the early 1990s. The government has pledged billions over the next three years to pay for the overhaul.
Deutsche Bahn has warned that the cost of its reforms will drive it into the red over the next few years, peaking as high as 560 million euros (dlrs 510 million) this year.
It said Wednesday that investments rose by about 205 million euros (dlrs 179 million) last year to more than 7 billion euros (dlrs 6.1 billion). Passenger numbers rose, but goods traffic was hit in the second half of last year by the cooling economy, it added, without giving figures.
The profit in 2000 followed Deutsche Bahn’s first-ever loss in 1999. The company said it would release details of its results in May.