INVEHO Closes Two German Workshops as Rail Freight Demand Falls

INVEHO will close its Niedersachswerfen and Brandenburg an der Havel workshops at the end of 2026 and move its German wagon maintenance activities to Altenburg. The company says both sites have been running below capacity as demand for freight wagon maintenance in Germany has fallen.

INVEHO, the wagon maintenance and engineering company within the Streem Group, is reducing its German workshop network from three sites to one. The company confirmed that operations in Niedersachswerfen and Brandenburg an der Havel will end on 31 December 2026. Altenburg will remain as INVEHO's only operational site in Germany.

The closure in Brandenburg had already been reported locally. The City of Brandenburg an der Havel announced on 24 September that the INVEHO BRB workshop would close at the end of the year. INVEHO has now confirmed to RAILTARGET that Niedersachswerfen will close as well.

The second closure is much larger in terms of employment. INVEHO told RAILTARGET that 220 people currently work at Niedersachswerfen and 70 in Brandenburg. The company is now talking to employees about what happens next. One option is for some of them to continue working at the Altenburg site.

"At the moment, it is too early to make a definitive statement," INVEHO said when asked how many employees could be offered jobs there.

The company also plans to set up a transfer company to help affected employees find new work.

"This decision is an important step in adapting our operations to evolving market conditions and securing the long-term future of our maintenance activities in Germany. Our priority is to support our customers and employees throughout this transition and to continue delivering reliable, high-quality services from our Altenburg site," Marc Cahingt, CEO of INVEHO Group, said in the company's statement.

INVEHO Says There Is Too Much Workshop Capacity in Germany

INVEHO said the economic situation had become too difficult for them to remain profitable. Losses had already been covered for an extended period, but the company no longer sees this as sustainable. "There is more workshop capacity in Germany than is currently needed," the company told RAILTARGET.

INVEHO says the main problem is lower demand. Fewer bulk goods are being transported by rail, which means many freight wagons are being used less often. If wagons run less, they also need maintenance less frequently. The company also said that some customers are moving freight from rail to road. This has further reduced demand for wagon maintenance and repair.

"Our facilities have therefore, unfortunately, been operating below capacity for some time now. Under these conditions, profitable operation is no longer possible," INVEHO said.

German rail freight figures show the same downward trend. According to Germany's Federal Statistical Office, 327.95 million tonnes of goods were transported by rail in 2025, 2.8% less than in 2024. Incoming international rail freight fell by 8.6%, while transit traffic was down 9.6%.

Rail also continues to account for a much smaller share of land freight than road. According to Eurostat data cited by Destatis, rail represented 17% of EU land freight transport in 2024, compared with 78% for road. In Germany, rail's share was 20%.

Niedersachswerfen Is INVEHO's Largest German Site

Niedersachswerfen is INVEHO's largest German site and carries out several types of specialised work. The company describes it as a 21,000 m² workshop complex for freight wagon maintenance, wheelset storage and management, wheelset maintenance up to IS3, new wheelset production and mobile maintenance. It also lists 260 employees at the site. INVEHO told RAILTARGET that the current number is 220.

The site is also one of INVEHO's wheelset centres and has one of the largest wheelset storage facilities in Europe. It is not yet clear how all these activities will be organised after the closure. INVEHO has said that German wagon maintenance will be concentrated in Altenburg, but it has not explained in detail how the specialised work currently done in Niedersachswerfen will be transferred.

The Brandenburg site is smaller but also covers several areas. It carries out freight and tank wagon maintenance, tank wagon cleaning and wheelset maintenance. According to INVEHO, the site has 10,900 m² of workshop space.

Altenburg, which will remain open, currently has 10,200 m² of workshops and around 100 employees. Its work includes freight and tank wagon maintenance, wheelset maintenance up to IS2, mobile repairs and work on pressurised gas wagons.

VTG Is Also Closing a Workshop in Germany

INVEHO is not the only company cutting maintenance capacity in the German freight wagon market. RAILTARGET has also received information from a reliable industry source about reductions in VTG's German maintenance activities. VTG has already officially confirmed that its workshop in Großräschen will close on 31 December 2026, the same day as the two INVEHO sites.

The Großräschen workshop is relatively new. VTG announced the project in 2023 and invested a double-digit million-euro amount in the facility. The workshop was built for the maintenance of intermodal freight wagons and was designed to handle around 2,000 wagons per year. Around 40 jobs were planned. Operations started in 2024.

Two years later, VTG decided to close it. The company said the expected level of utilisation had not been reached and that the workshop could not operate profitably under current market conditions.

"After careful review, however, we must conclude that economically viable continued operation is not possible under the current and foreseeable market conditions," Thomas Jäger, CEO Production at VTG, said.

VTG plans to cover maintenance through other workshops in its European network and through external partners.

The company is also making changes elsewhere in its business. As RAILTARGET previously reported, VTG is selling its entire UK wagon leasing business, including around 4,500 freight wagons, to the Universities Superannuation Scheme. VTG has said the UK sale will allow it to put more capital and management resources into its other European activities. The sale of VTG Rail UK and the closure of Großräschen are separate decisions.