Sovereign Trains was a

rolling stock company A rolling stock company (ROSCO) or rolling stock leasing company owns and maintains railway engines and carriages which are leased to train operating companies who operate the trains. Africa * Sheltam Grindrod * Swifambo Rail Leasing Austral ...

(ROSCO) formed in 2007 as part of the same group as Grand Central. The company was initially formed to fund the purchase of rolling stock for Grand Central for its operations between

London King's Cross King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the busiest stations in the United King ...

and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, which Grand Central leased from Sovereign. This amounted to six Class 43 power cars and 24

Mark 3 Mark 3 is the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It relates a conflict over healing on the Sabbath, the commissioning of the Twelve Apostles, a conflict with scribes and a meeting of Jesus with h ...

coaches to form three complete trains. However in 2007, Sovereign entered into a partnership with

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

manufacturer CSR Ziyang to market their new range of trains in Europe, with Grand Central committing to operate the ''Polaris''

DEMU A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

, should its track-access agreement be extended. In 2010, Sovereign Trains sold its three HST sets to

Angel Trains Angel Trains is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO). Together with Eversholt Rail Group and Porterbrook, it is one of the three original ROSCOs. Angel Trains was established in March 1994 as part of the privatisation of British Rail. In No ...

, which then leased the sets back to Grand Central.Angel Trains in Grand Central HST sale and lease-back deal
''

Railway Gazette International ''Railway Gazette International'' is a monthly business magazine and news website covering the railway, metro, light rail and tram industries worldwide. Available by annual subscription, the magazine is read in over 140 countries by transport p ...

'' 2 March 2010

References

{{British ROSCOs British companies established in 2007 Post-privatisation British railway companies Railway companies established in 2007 Railway companies disestablished in 2010 Rolling stock leasing companies 2007 establishments in England 2010 disestablishments in England