DSB reveals solid quarterly profits as IC4s prepare to hit rails

An rise in customers and a decrease in expenses have contributed to a 367 million kroner improvement in the first three quarters compared to last year

admin

Nov 22, 2013

The national railway provider, DSB, has presented its financial results for the first three quarters of 2013, showing solid profits of 304 million kroner.

The results are a 367 million kroner improvement from the first nine months of 2012, when the accounts showed a deficit of 63 million kroner. A pleasing result, DSB chairman, Peter Schütze, said.

“We’ve come a long way in terms of the financial recovery of DSB, but we must continue with the progress until we reach our goal,” Schütze said in a DSB press release.

Customers on the rise
The profits were largely gained through expense cutbacks since last year. Expenses were reduced from 7.302 billion kroner in 2012 to 7.04 billion this year, saving the embattled rail provider 262 million kroner. At the same time, revenue increased by 64 million kroner since last year. And the huge financial lifeline provided by the government certainly must have helped matters.

Part of DSB's revenue increase comes from an increase in customers. Passenger numbers went up by 300,000 to 134.7 million compared to the first nine months of 2012. The electronic travel card, Rejsekort, now has over 545,000 active customers.

But despite the rosy outlook, customer growth rates have been stalling recently.

“The new passenger prognosis from [traffic authority] Trafikstyrelsen shows that there is still growth, but at a lower level than before – a tendency that we have also experienced in the past few quarters,” Jesper Lok, the administrative head of DSB, said in a press release.

IC4 nightmare ending?
Furthermore, the long-standing IC4 train scandal, an issue that has hounded DSB for over a decade, also finally looks like it will be put to rest.

Only one of the 105 IC4 and IC2 trains that DSB had ordered some 13 years ago from Italian manufacturer Ansaldobreda has yet to arrive in Denmark. DSB revealed that about half of them, 57 in total, are ready to hit the rails.

Despite the controversy over the problem-riddled IC4 trains, the transport minister, Pia Olsen Dyhr (SF), said last month that they could not be scrapped, at least until the future electrical train plans are realised in 2025.