Despite high debts: But no billions in gifts for SBB from the federal government

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The SBB has financial problems. The Financial Commission of the Council of States recommends, contrary to the plans of the Federal Council, not to help the federal railways with a one-off capital subsidy of 1.15 billion francs. The committee only wants to help the SBB with 600 million. Because the SBB increased its debt mountain even further by 2.7 billion francs during the corona pandemic.

This means that the federal railways are clearly not meeting the Federal Council’s debt target. Net debt should actually only be six and a half times higher than operating profit before depreciation, interest and taxes. With debts of more than 11 billion francs, we are still far from that.

“Nice victory”

It doesn’t help much when railway boss Vincent Ducrot (61) announces a “nice victory” in an interview. “We had already made about 100 million in profit this summer,” CFO Franz Steiger (52) told Blick. “The second half of the year went better.” From his comments it can be assumed that annual profits could reach a quarter of a billion.

However, according to Steiger, half a billion in profits would be needed to reduce debt to the necessary extent and make investments at the same time. That is why, from the SBB’s point of view, we need the good billion francs that the Federal Council wants to pay to the federal railways.

The reservations in Parliament are therefore alarming: “If the SBB does not receive the 1.15 billion losses it has suffered in long-distance transport during the pandemic as a one-off payment from the federal government, we would have to make the necessary investments,” said Steiger .

“Fail”

Only: in parliament, bourgeois politicians doubt the reliability of the SBB forecasts. And the Federal Tourist Office (BAV) also states: “The BAV assesses the financial forecasts of the SBB as inadequate.” For the office, the billion for the SBB will probably be “completely eliminated”.

The background is back and forth over a small amount – in the case of rail transport: almost 35 million. The BAV demands this back from the SBB, as Blick information confirms: “That’s right.” In the autumn, the federal railways assumed that they would miss their minimum profit target in long-distance transport. According to the SBB, 34.8 million francs more was needed to achieve the 4 percent return on turnover required by the federal government. On October 18, 2023, the SBB therefore asked the BAV for support for this amount.

There was great surprise in the public transport industry.

The doubts are great

Considering the billions in rail transport, 35 million is a piece of cake. And what’s more: now the state railways no longer need the money. No wonder that the BAV doubts the reliability of the SBB forecasts.

However, CFO Steiger refuses to make dubious predictions: “We were only 5 million lower than the forecast for the entire group – with a group turnover of 11.5 billion francs. That’s a precision landing!”

However, he admits that the 35 million deviation in the forecast for long-distance traffic is unsatisfactory. But: “Until last summer, a forecast that only included long-distance traffic was not necessary. That is why experience is lacking here. There were also special effects as a result of the train derailment in the Gotthard tunnel. Because we could no longer drive through the base tunnel, the costs for car rental, for example, were eliminated.” But the most important thing is: “We have approached the BAV ourselves with the request that they repay the almost 35 million.”

Source:Blick