THE European Investment Bank has agreed to lend Poland's largest railfreight operator PKP Cargo €47m to help finance the modernisation of its locomotive and wagon fleets.

POLISH State Railways' (PKP) freight business PKP Cargo is to be part-privatised through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the Warsaw stock exchange.

POLAND's largest railfreight operator PKP Cargo has moved a step closer to its long-planned flotation after reaching an agreement with trade unions on August 22 on the proposed sale of 50% plus one share in the company on the Warsaw stock exchange.

POLISH State Railways (PKP) subsidiary PKP Cargo has become the latest potential buyer to be linked with ZSSK Cargo as the Slovak government continues its search for a strategic partner for the ailing Slovakian state-owned railfreight operator.

EUROPEAN railfreight transport operators are continuing to suffer from low profitability despite considerable increases in traffic since the height of the world financial crisis in 2009, according to the latest European Railfreight Transport Market 2012 study released by SCI Verkehr.

POLISH railfreight continued to suffer from the effects of the economic downturn in the first half of 2012 with an 8.9% year-on-year decline in tonnages, according to the latest statistics from the Office of Railway Transport (UTK).