European Railways Lost € 26 Billion in 2020 30 January 2021 Despite heavy losses in revenue, railways continue to do their utmost to keep essential freight and passenger services running, while protecting their customers and staff in 2020. Railways lost € 26 billion in revenue last year in the European Union (EU27), according to data revealed by the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER). Passenger services were more affected than freight, but the pandemic is taking its toll across the board.
While these figures are daunting enough, they only show part of the picture. Whereas freight seems to have managed to somewhat mitigate losses in the second half of 2020, the situation of passenger services started to deteriorate again in the autumn (after a short upswing during the summer) to reach record-high revenue losses of -50% in December.