21/05/2026
The last few months have been very active for the CER Cargo group. The company ran its first train on the Romanian rail network and expanded its transport network to include Romania. “We are not only creating nice presentations and announcements, but above all we are consistently implementing our strategy of fast and efficient cross-border rail transport in Europe,” says Wilhelm Patzner, Chairman of the Board of the CER Cargo Group.
In April, the CER Cargo group launched a new line for the Austrian intermodal client from Graz, Austria, to the Serbian Batainica (near Belgrade), and the interoperable Siemens Vectron locomotive belonging to CER carries out transports in Croatia and Serbia, where CER took over the smaller railway operator to be able to offer rail transport services independently also from Serbia and through Serbia using its own resources. The next logical step is Bulgaria, where a solution will be developed by the end of the year – in the form of setting up a carrier from scratch or taking over another carrier. The country will close the network, enabling the provision of interoperable, high-quality and competitive rail services between Germany and Poland and Turkey.
The additional strategic area of interest of CER is the corridor between Poland and Germany. A novelty of the last time are self-conduct in this corridor, using the group's own resources. “Between Poland and Germany, we successfully implement not only heavy grain trains, carried out without change at the border with one locomotive, but we also deal with high-speed intermodal trains, of which we carry out more and more from Poland” – says Peter Jančovič, President of the Management Board of CER Poland, a Polish carrier from the CER Cargo group.
In order to further develop the group’s transport capacity in Germany, the integration and restructuring of the former company Wiener Lokalbahnen Cargo, currently operating under the name CER Cargo Traction, is currently underway, and the new owner – the CER Cargo group – had to make not always easy decisions, because it was necessary to close some unprofitable areas of activity, e.g. own rolling stock maintenance and manoeuvring services in Austria. “We deeply regret the situation affected by this employee, but these difficult steps were necessary to make CER Cargo Traction profitable in the future – which means that we are securing the jobs of other employees and we can focus on our core business. Fortunately, customers are very satisfied with the high operational quality on our main sea routes between Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Austria," adds Wilhelm Patzner. This provides a good basis for expanding the product range in addition to regular trains also to conventional trains in the field of mass transport, including irregular spot trains.
In addition, CER also focuses on the growing importance of the port of Rijeka and offers competitive, interoperable solutions connecting Rijeka with Hungary, Romania and Austria. “Although the overall market situation is still not good and the price competition is high, we are gaining more and more new international orders thanks to our interoperable capabilities – because we are able to deliver high quality at competitive prices,” adds Patzner. In December 2026, two more new Siemens Vectron A17 locomotives will be delivered to the CER Cargo group, with approval that also includes Serbia.