Railion

Infobox_Company
company_name = Railion GmbH
company_type = Private
company_
company_slogan =
foundation = 2000
location_city = Mainz
location_country = Germany
industry = Logistics
products = Rail Transport
Maintenance
revenue = € 3.7 billion
net_income =
operating_income =
num_employees = 25,000
key_people =
parent =
subsid = Railion Deutschland
Railion Nederland
Railion Danmark
Railion Italia
Railion Schweiz
homepage = [http://www.railion.com/site/railion/en/start.html English Homepage]
foot_notes =

Railion is a European (mainly German) railway cargo carrier. The name was probably intended to be a play on the English words "rely on", though the attempt was only partially successful. [http://www.netherlandsrailways.co.uk/Issue33.htm]

History

The present company is the result of the merger of DB Cargo AG with NS Cargo NV. Later, the Danish cargo DSB Gods merged into the company. It further acquired the Italian cargo carrier Strade Ferrate del Mediterraneo (SFM) in 2004 and further acquired the Swiss cargo carrier Brunner Rail Services GmbH. In addition it purchased a 20 percent stake in Swiss BLS Cargo AG in 2007. In 2008 it increased its stake in BLS Cargo AG to 40 percent.

On 28 June 2007 it was announced at a press conference held by Deutsche Bahn AG (DB), EWS and Spanish rail forwarder Transfesa that DB was to acquire all the shares in British carrier EWS as soon as contracts were signed. [cite web|url=http://www.db.de/site/bahn/en/db__group/press/press__information/db__group/070628__acquisition.html|title=Deutsche Bahn plans takeover of EWS and Transfesa|accessdate=2007-06-28|authorlink=http://www.db.de/site/bahn/en/db__group/press/press__information/press__information.html|date=2007-06-28|publisher=Deutsche Bahn] EWS would be part of Railion, but would not be rebranded. [cite web|url=http://www.ifw-net.com/freightpubs/ifw/indexarticle.htm?artid=1182561242956|title=DB gets go-ahead for rail takeovers|date=2007-06-29|accessdate=2007-06-30|last=Falkner|first=James|publisher=International Freighting Weekly]

Operations

The holding company, Railion GmbH, is based in Mainz. 92% of the shares are held by DB AG(through its Logistics subsidiary DB Schenker), 6% by NV Nederlandse Spoorwegen and 2% by Danske Statsbaner.

It uses different names for in each country where it operates, namely:

*Railion Scandinavia in Denmark (formerly DSB Gods)
*Euro Cargo Rail in Northern France
*Railion Deutschland in Germany (formerly DB Cargo)
*Railion Italia in Italy (formerly SFM)
*Railion Nederland in the Netherlands (formerly NS Cargo)
*Transfesa in Spain
*Railion Schweiz in Switzerland (formerly Brunner Rail Services GmbH)
*EWS in the United Kingdom

ee also

* Transportation in Germany
* Transportation in the Netherlands

References

External links

* [http://www.railion.com/ Railion Deutschland]
* [http://www.railion.nl/ Railion Nederland]
* [http://www.railion.dk/ Railion Danmark]
* [http://www.railion.it/ Railion Italia]
* [http://www.railion.ch/ Railion Schweiz]