In the 2025 financial year, Kombiverkehr’s performance was once again characterised by challenging operating conditions: a total of around 666,000 lorry consignments were recorded, representing a significant reduction in transport volume compared with the previous year. Of these, approximately 155,000 consignments were on domestic routes and around 511,000 on international routes. Despite the decline, the company continued to make an important contribution to climate protection: thanks to more than 2,600 daily train services, around 1.0 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions were avoided compared with road transport alone.

The reasons for this trend once again lay in the subdued economic climate, weak industrial demand and extensive construction work on the rail network. Extensive construction works, line closures and diversionary services significantly impaired the reliability of services. At the same time, high energy and infrastructure costs, as well as reduced funding conditions, weighed on the competitiveness of combined transport.

Despite these challenges, Kombiverkehr once again proved itself to be a robust and adaptable intermodal operator in 2025. The company managed to keep its network services largely stable and continued to generate a positive net profit for the year. In addition, new train services were specifically established and existing services expanded:

January 2025: Capacity expansion on the Brenner routeSpring 2025: Reactivation of the Lübeck ↔ Verona serviceOctober 2025: Expansion of the Rostock ↔ Verona service to seven round trips per weekDecember 2025: Switching of the service on the Poland route to the Neuss Trimodal terminal. Direct services Neuss ↔ Poznań Clip Swarzedz (6 round trips per week)

Milestone: Transformation and Organisation

A key milestone in the 2025 financial year was the successful completion of the company’s comprehensive transformation. Following intensive restructuring, Kombiverkehr was able to establish a new, future-oriented organisational structure in spring 2025. In addition to the reorganisation of traction services, wagon management and operational processes were also fundamentally overhauled.

Cooperation with several service partners became increasingly stable over the course of the year, providing the company with greater flexibility and control within the European network. This laid the foundations for responding more quickly to market changes and making better use of future growth opportunities.

Infrastructure, politics and market conditions

Despite operational stability, Kombiverkehr continues to face major challenges at the political and infrastructural levels. The high volume of construction work on the German rail network, insufficiently coordinated measures and a lack of efficient diversion routes led to considerable strain on day-to-day operations. In addition, rising costs and reduced funding instruments exacerbated the competitive situation vis-à-vis road freight transport.

Against this backdrop, the company is calling for more intensive dialogue with policymakers and reliable framework conditions. In particular, compensation for additional costs arising from construction works, predictable train path prices and coordinated maintenance measures are considered crucial to securing the long-term competitiveness of climate-friendly rail transport.

Digitalisation and strategic development

At the same time, Kombiverkehr made significant progress in digitalisation in 2025. Investments in modern IT architectures, digital customer services, data-driven solutions and artificial intelligence are enhancing efficiency and transparency throughout the transport chain. Platform solutions such as KV 4.0 have further advanced the networking of partners and laid the foundations for automated processes.

A significant step forward was also taken in the area of sustainability: new digital applications enable precise and timely emissions accounting, allowing customers to document their shipments more transparently and efficiently.

Despite declining transport volumes and persistently challenging operating conditions, Kombiverkehr held its ground in 2025 thanks to a stable network and a successful strategic reorientation. Through transformation, targeted service development and consistent digitalisation, the foundations for future growth have been laid – provided that the infrastructural and political conditions develop accordingly.