Editing DB Cargo (section)

=== European expansion ===
At first, DB Cargo solely focused on its domestic activities. Accordingly, the Deutsche Bahn Group produced investment plans that directed billions in its subsidiary in order to improve its position in the German transport and logistics market.<ref>{{Cite news |language = de |title = Bahn will Milliarden in Güterverkehr investieren |newspaper = Handelsblatt |date = 31 October 1996 |page = 23}}</ref> As the competitive environment with other European providers became increasingly challenging in the late 1990s,<ref>{{Cite news |language = de |first = Niels |last = Boeing |title = Europas Güterbahnen spüren den Wettbewerb. Fusion soll DB Cargo und NS Cargo im künftigen EU-Transportmarkt Vorsprung sichern. |newspaper = Die Tageszeitung |date = 25 June 1998 |page = 9}}</ref> Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the Dutch state-owned rail company [[Nederlandse Spoorwegen]] (NS) announced plans to merge their rail freight transport activities in 1998.<ref>{{Cite news |language = de |first = Dieter |last = Kuckelkorn |title = Deutsche und niederländische Bahn fusionieren ihre Cargo-Sparten |newspaper = Börsen-Zeitung |date = 24 June 1998 |page = 1}}</ref>

Together, DB Cargo and NS Cargo reached revenues of around 6.9 billion [[Deutsche Mark]] (3.5 billion euros) and had roughly 50,000 employees.<ref>{{Cite news |language = de |title = Bahn-Cargo-Fusion mit Holländern ist perfekt. |newspaper = Frankfurter Neue Presse |date = 24 June 1998 |page = 2}}</ref> Their amalgamation was the first ever cross-border rail merger, in which Deutsche Bahn retained its majority share of 94%.<ref>{{Cite news |language = de |first = Michael |last = Machatschke |title = Erste europäische Bahnfusion: Deutsche und Niederländer schließen Gütertransport auf der Schiene zusammen. |newspaper = Die Welt |date = 23 June 1999 |page = 23}}</ref> A financial [[holding company]], ''Railion GmbH'', was created for this new company,<ref>{{Cite news |language = de |title = Fusion aus Fahrplan gestrichen. Deutsch-holländische Güterbahn kommt nicht auf die Schiene. |newspaper = Frankfurter Rundschau |date = 1 March 2000 |page = 16}}</ref> and commenced operations during early 2000.<ref>{{Cite news |language = de |first = Ralf |last = Heidenreich |title = Bahn setzt auf Railion GmbH: Mainzer Transportunternehmen soll mehr Güter auf die Schiene bringen. |newspaper = Allgemeine Zeitung |date = 17 September 1999}}</ref>