ÖBB Record Number of Passengers
The Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) transported over half a billion passengers for the first time in 2024. 511.3 million people traveled with ÖBB trains and buses last year, the company announced on Friday. The result before taxes (EBT) increased by 2 million to 113.6 million euros. The group's total revenues rose significantly by 15.3 percent to almost 9 billion euros.
17.7 Million More ÖBB Passengers
However, the group's expenses also climbed by 14.7 percent to almost 8.3 billion euros. The result before interest and taxes (EBIT) was 708 million euros. "2024 was a year with many challenges - keyword century flood. But also successes," ÖBB CEO Andreas Matthä is quoted in the release. Thus, 172.8 million train kilometers were traveled, which is 4.2 percent more than in the previous year 2023. The total number of passengers increased by 17.7 million passengers or 3.6 percent. This is mainly due to an increase of 9.8 percent to 254.3 million passengers in local rail transport.
In long-distance rail transport, slightly fewer people were transported with 46 million than in the previous year, which the ÖBB attributes to the flood disaster. In post bus transport, there was a decrease in passengers of 2.1 percent to 211 million passengers. Here, strong competition is to blame.
"Weak demand, competition with the road, and tough price competition" resulted in a negative result of 24.5 million euros in the cargo sector. Meanwhile, the transport volume increased by 1.7 percent to almost 80 million net tons.
Punctuality Deteriorated
The number of employees in the group then increased from around 45,000 to almost 47,500. Punctuality slightly declined. It fell slightly from 95 percent in 2023 to 93.6 percent last year.
The most important event for the ÖBB this year is likely to be the planned opening of the Koralmbahn. "In December 2025, we will usher in a new era of Austrian mobility in the south," said Matthä. This will enable an "expansion of around 30 percent in long-distance and interregional transport throughout Austria," according to the release.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.