XYZ Rail Limited (formerly W.A. Developments Ltd. and Stobart Rail Limited and trading as XYZ Rail & Civils) is a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

maintenance and infrastructure engineering company in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

History

The original company

XYZ Rail & Civils was founded on 25 May 1993 by William Andrew Tinkler as W.A. Developments Civil Engineering in

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumb ...

, with an initial capital investment of £500. The company was involved in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

and railway infrastructure project contracts. The company gained a contract with

Railtrack Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from 1994 until 2002. It was created as part of the privatisation of ...

(now

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

). The business was incorporated as W.A. Developments Ltd. The company's original registered office was in

Gosforth, Cumbria Gosforth is a village, civil parish and electoral ward in the Lake District, in the Borough of Copeland in Cumbria, England. Historically in Cumberland, it is situated on the A595 road between Whitehaven and Barrow-in-Furness. It had a pop ...

Acquisition of Eddie Stobart

W.A. Developments Ltd.'s parent company, WA Developments (International) Ltd (a company jointly owned by

Andrew Tinkler William Andrew Tinkler (known as Andrew Tinkler) was the chief executive officer of Stobart Group Limited until 1 July 2017. He lives in Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scot ...

and

William Stobart William Stobart (born November 1961) is the Deputy Group CEO of Culina Group (owner of the Eddie Stobart Group). Career Stobart was born in Cumberland in England in November 1961, the fourth child of Eddie and Nora Stobart. He worked for the ...

), acquired Eddie Stobart Limited, the UK's largest haulage contractor, in February 2004. Following WA Developments' decision to merge Eddie Stobart Limited with the property and ports company the Westbury Property Fund on 15 August 2007 and to list it on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

as the

Stobart Group Esken Limited (), formerly Stobart Group Limited, is a British infrastructure, aviation and energy company, with operations in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company is registered in Guernsey but has its operational head office in Londo ...

, W.A. Developments Ltd. initially remained within the ownership of WA Developments.

Sale to the Stobart Group

On 10 March 2008,

announced that it would be buying the original W.A. Developments Ltd. civil engineering and railway infrastructure business from WA Developments for £10 million in cash. Upon completion, W.A. Developments Ltd. changed its name to Stobart Rail Limited and W.A. Developments Civil Engineering was re-branded Stobart Rail and subsequently Stobart Rail & Civils.

Divestment to Bavaria Industries Group AG

On 14 July 2020, the Stobart Group Ltd announced the sale of Stobart Rail & Civils to Bavaria Industries Group AG for an initial cash consideration of £1,000. On 13 October 2020 Stobart Rail Limited changed its name to XYZ Rail Limited.

Operations

Eddie Stobart (RV312) VK62GXJ (8645513900)

XYZ Rail & Civils holds a

Principal Contractor's Licence and Rail Plant Operating Company Licence. Stobart Developments undertakes development projects and is delivering improvement works at a number of Stobart Group facilities, including constructing the London Southend Airport railway station, which it owns and operates.

References

External links

XYZ Rail & Civils official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:XYZ Rail and Civils Post-privatisation British railway companies British companies established in 1993 Transport companies established in 1993