Railway boss will attend to €2.6 billion debt pile

The president of Comboios de Portugal, Portugal’s railway company, was cheery about the business despite recognising that any company with €2.6 billion in debt can never truly be happy.

Carlos Gomes Nogueira, said today that the problem of CP’s debt is “suffocating the business” despite trading moving slowly towards some positive results.

Nogueira has not released the 2018 results yet, but the year before saw losses fall by €32.6 million to €112 million and a cut in losses, or even a small surplus, would be good for the image and general morale.

Speaking today at the committee of Economy, Innovation and Public Works, Nogueira said that the company is moving towards positive results, “with financial restructuring, investment in rolling stock and a growing number of railway users,” despite his regret at a lack of public investment in the railroad in recent years – a point well made as even the current ‘investment’ seems little more than political tom-foolery in this election year.

“We have an asphyxiating debt of €2.6 billion,” said Nogueira, adding that management was in the process of resolving the financial restructuring of the business, a move that seems long overdue but, hey, he gets paid every month anyway so no need to rush things.