Europhoenix is a
spot-hire
The railway system in Great Britain is the oldest railway system in the world. The first locomotive-hauled public railway opened in 1825, which was followed by an era of rapid expansion. Most of the track is managed by Network Rail, which in ...
railway locomotive company in England. In addition to the hiring out of locomotives to various other operators across the United Kingdom, it commonly exports former
British Rail
British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...
rolling stock to operators in mainland Europe.
The company was founded in 2008 with the project of overhauling stored
Class 87 electric locomotives prior to their export to the
Bulgarian Railway Company. Further customers would be found by Europhoenix for its refurbished Class 87s and
Class 86s in both
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
and
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
; several
Class 56 diesel freight locomotives were also exported in a similar manner. It also provides aftersales technical support for these types to their overseas operators.
Throughout the 2010s, Europhoenix purchased a number of
Class 37 diesel locomotives, overhauling these and putting them to work for spot-hiring; additional examples were acquired in response to demand from customers such as the
Rail Operations Group
Rail Operations Group (ROG) specialises in ad-hoc movement of rolling stock for rolling stock companies and train operating companies as well as locomotive spot hire services and the operation of charter trains. It has its headquarters and main ...
. The company is reportedly investigating hybrid technology and cleaner engine designs for its fleet. In October 2019, Europhoenix announced plans to refurbish and export up to 20
Class 91 electric locomotives to Eastern Europe for heavy freight operations.
History
The origins of Europhoenix can be traced to its founder, Glenn Edwards, and
Electric Traction Limited
Electric Traction Limited was a British electric locomotive hire company. It operated some former British Rail Class 86 and 87 electric locomotives hired from associated company Europhoenix and the AC Locomotive Group from 2010 until 2019.
Pr ...
, which the company formerly traded as prior to being rebranded.
Early operations were centered around the overhauling of 17 stored
Class 87 electric locomotives formerly owned by the British railway leasing company
Porterbrook
Porterbrook is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO), created as part of the privatisation of British Rail. Together with Angel Trains and Eversholt Rail Group, it is one of the three original ROSCOs.
Porterbrook was established in March 199 ...
in preparation for their sale to the
Bulgarian Railway Company. Europhoenix established a workshop at
Long Marston to perform repair and reactivation work on the type.
Following the fulfilment of the Bulgarian Railway Company contract, there were still Class 87s in long term storage as Long Marston with no set purpose; Europhoenix set about seeking customers for some of those locomotives, while those beyond economic repair were gradually scrapped.
During 2012, the company sold four of these Class 87s to the private Bulgarian railway operator
Bulmarket
Bulmarket DM OOD ( bg, „Булмаркет ДМ“ ЕООД) is a private company, registered in 1996, based in the Bulgarian city of Ruse.
Operations
Petroleum derivatives
The company is one of the largest importers and exporters of LPG in B ...
.
[ That same year, Europhoenix sold three Class 56s before they were sent to Hungary for use by Floyd Zrt.][
During September 2008, Europhoenix purchased 23 Class 86 electric locomotive that had been stored by the rail leasing company HSBC Rail. These underwent an extensive refurbishment programme at Long Marston by Europhoenix's engineering team.] Between 2009 and 2013, eight were overhauled and sold to the Hungarian open-access operator Floyd Zrt. During May 2016, a further six Class 86s were sold to Bulmarket, which included a pair of locomotives that had been previously operated in the UK by Electric Traction Limited. These Bulgarian-destined Class 86s were subject to further alterations upon arrival.
In the early 2010s, Floyd approached Europhoenix with a proposal for them to refurbish a pair of Class 56 diesel freight locomotives; three (56096, 16115, and 56117) were promptly acquired from the freight operator DB Schenker
DB Schenker is a division of German rail operator Deutsche Bahn that focuses on logistics. The company was acquired by Deutsche Bahn as Schenker-Stinnes in 2002. It comprises divisions for air, land, sea freight, and Contract Logistics.
Histo ...
, while another (56101) was obtained from the preservation sector. Three of these would be exported to Hungary, although only two Class 56s would see optional service, the third locomotive apparently being used as a source of spare parts. The fourth Class 56 was briefly used by Europhoenix itself, before being sold to the freight operator Colas Rail
Colas Rail is a railway infrastructure and rail freight company primarily active in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of the French industrial group Bouygues.
Colas Rail was originally created as ''Seco Rail'', named after its then-paren ...
. Beyond the initial procurement, Europhoenix has continued to provide technical support and advice to both its Bulgarian and Hungarian export customers.
During 2013, Europhoenix purchased three Class 37 diesel locomotives, comprising 37800 and 37884 from DB Schenker and preserved 37906 from the Ruston 906 Group. The former two were returned to service during 2015 and 2016 after their overhaul by the Harry Needle Railroad Company
The Harry Needle Railroad Company (HNRC) is a railway spot-hire company, based at Barrow Hill Engine Shed in Derbyshire. Prior to 2010 the company also recovered valuable spares from scrapped railway vehicles, either on the vehicle owners site, ...
and UK Rail Leasing
UK Rail Leasing (UKRL) is a railway company offering locomotive leasing and rolling stock engineering services to various train operating companies. It is based in Leicester.
UKRL was founded in September 2013; within two months, it had secure ...
, they were leased to the Rail Operations Group
Rail Operations Group (ROG) specialises in ad-hoc movement of rolling stock for rolling stock companies and train operating companies as well as locomotive spot hire services and the operation of charter trains. It has its headquarters and main ...
. During 2016, a further five Class 37s (37503, 37510, 37608, 37611 and 37670) were purchased from the freight operator Direct Rail Services
Direct Rail Services (DRS) is a rail freight company in Great Britain. As of 2022, it is one of seven publicly owned railway companies in the United Kingdom, the others being NI Railways (the passenger rail operator in Northern Ireland), LNER, ...
. Originally, Europhoenix had intended to market its Class 37s for the spot-hire market; however, it was found that there was enough interest in the type to keep the locomotives busy on a near-permanent basis. Accordingly, by 2018, the whole fleet had been subject to a full rebuild.
By the late 2010s, the company was reportedly investigating hybrid technology and cleaner engine designs with the purpose of improving the future operational prospects of its fleet. According to Edwards, Europhoenix is routinely evaluating other locomotive designs for their export potential as well for pursuing spot-hire work in Britain. Typically, acquisition opportunities have been anticipated from other train operating customers withdrawing rail vehicles in favour of new rolling stock.
In October 2019, Europhoenix announced plans to export up to 20 Class 91 electric locomotives to Eastern Europe for heavy freight operations following their withdrawal from express passenger services on the East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broa ...
. It had already acquired two Class 91s for initial trials abroad; it was expected that the company would, in partnership with the German manufacturer Voith
The Voith Group is a German manufacturer of machines for the pulp and paper industry, technical equipment for hydropower plants and drive and braking systems. The family-owned company, which operates worldwide and has its headquarters in Hei ...
, re-gear them to a lower rating to improve their heavy haulage characteristics as well as to permanently connect them together into pairs at the blunt ends. Plans to export the type to Bulgaria were underway at one stage, but these were reportedly disrupted by the COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
pandemic; by February 2022, Europhoenix was still seeking opportunities on continental Europe for its Class 91s, having concluded that there was little work available in the British railway market for the type.
Livery
Europhoenix adopted a grey, silver and red livery with a phoenix motif.[ ]
References
External links
Company website
{{British Rail Spot Hire Companies, state=collapsed
Post-privatisation British railway companies
Rolling stock leasing companies
Railway companies established in 2008
2008 establishments in England
British companies established in 2008