Takargo Rail

Captrain Portugal S.A.
IndustryRail transport
Founded2006[1]
Headquarters
Lisbon[2]
,
Portugal
Revenue€14.8 million (2009)[3]
Number of employees
100[4]
ParentMota-Engil[1]

Captrain Portugal S.A. (formerly Takargo Rail) is a Portuguese rail transport company. It is presently a subsidiary of the French state-owned railway company SNCF.

It was founded as Takargo Rail during 2006 by the Portuguese conglomerate Mota-Engil. Within two years, the company had started running its own trains, being the first private train operator in Portugal. While it has since been joined by competing rail freight companies, Takargo Rail did not have to deal with an incumbent state-owned rail freight operator, and the nation's use of the Iberian gauge hindered the entrance of competition. During 2009, the joint venture operator Ibercargo Rail was formed by Takargo Rail and the Spanish company COMSA Rail Transport to operate cross-border rail freight services between Spain and Portugal.

During the 2010s, Takargo Rail expanded its inhouse maintenance and training capabilities, secured additional work (including at its Ibercargo Rail joint venture, and found itself competing against new rail freight entrants. In March 2022, RAIL Logistics Europe (RLE), a subsidiary of SNCF, announced its intention to acquire Takargo Rail from Mota-Engil; the deal was approved of by regulators and was completed four months later. The Captrain Portugal S.A. was adopted on 1 January 2024.

  1. ^ a b "Takargo Rail". sinergia.mota-engil.pt (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  2. ^ "Takargo Rail". International Railway Journal. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  3. ^ "PRESENTACIÓN COMSA Y TAKARGO" (PDF). portdebarcelona.es (in Spanish). pp. 8–9.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference irj takeover2022 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).