By the following year, ECR had become the second largest rail freight company in France, after the traditional market leading state-owned operator SNCF.

While early rolling stock was typically leased, or transferred from EWS, the company was quickly able to place its own sizable orders for new-build locomotives, such as the TRAXX F140 MS and the EMD Series 66, although many of these deliveries would be received by DB Cargo rather than ECR itself.

Furthermore, the company promoted itself as working to increase the amount of rail freight within France by pursuing operations that would be economically viable in comparison to road transportation.

[2] In November 2005, EWS' application was approved and a safety certificate was granted by the French Minister for Transport; this outcome meant that ECR had become only the third freight operator in the country at that time.

[5] In July 2006, it was announced that ECR had, as part of its ambitions to expand across western Europe, filed applications to operate freight services in neighbouring Belgium and Germany.

[6] On 28 June 2007, EWS was wholly acquired by the German state railway company Deutsche Bahn (DB) in a deal that included ECR.

[10] That same year, a major dispute between DB and SNCF over access to France's railways had escalated to the level of government ministers in both countries intervening.

[12] In December 2012, SNCF was fined €60.9m for exercising anti-competitive measures that sought to block open-access operators from using certain resources, such as renting wagons or using train paths, thus forcing them to use less optimal alternatives or to not run certain services at all.

[15] Starting in 2010, ECR participated in the Sustainable Iron and Steel Transport by European Railways project, which provided a door-to-door logistics service via two multi-client services ran per week between Turin, Italy and Sagunto, Spain, along with another two trains between Monza and Irun, via a newly opened cross-border link between Figueras and Perpignan.

[18] During late 2021, ECR was rebranded as DB Cargo France, bringing its identity into line with that of its corporate parent.