Net sales rose from €882.8m in 2017 to €892.5m in 2018, increasing by 52% since the 2009 financial year. CFL transported 23.3 million passengers in 2018, up from 22.9 million in 2017. Punctuality for CFL’s passenger trains was 89% in 2018. Major milestones for the year included the awarding of a contract to Alstom to supply 34 Coradia regional EMUs, while the funicular at the new Pfaffenthal-Kirchberg station, which was inaugurated on December 10 2017, has attracted more than 1.5 million passengers. The overall result for CFL’s freight operations was positive, despite continuing problems for its intermodal subsidiary. The CFL Cargo group posted a consolidated net profit of €2.1m, its fifth consecutive profit, despite the non-recurring major cost of transitioning its locomotive fleet to ETCS. The combined freight sector posted a loss of €4.6m, an improvement on the loss of €13.9m reported in 2017. This was due to significant costs related to the start-up and commissioning of new infrastructure and activities. CFL says it has developed a customer-centric corporate strategy based on five pillars - safety, quality, innovation, know-how and performance - which will feed into the company’s 2024 plan. This includes: expansion of the networkincreasing the robustness of the system, with the objective of raising punctuality to at least 92%a 46% increase in seating capacity through the acquisition of new rolling stockimproved mobile phone reception at stations, andthe continued diversification of integrated logistics solutions. CFL, which is also the infrastructure manager for Luxembourg’s network, continued a number of large projects throughout 2018 including the construction of the new Luxembourg - Bettembourg line, which is due to open 2024. CFL also completed the re-electrification of the Luxembourg - Kleinbettingen line in September 2018. Other important projects launched in 2018 include the construction of two additional platforms at Luxembourg station to provide four new tracks, as well as the construction of several park and ride facilities. CFL invested €227.5m in infrastructure during the year.
