DB Schenker Rail (UK)
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DB Cargo UK (formerly DB Schenker Rail UK and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS)), is a British rail freight company headquartered in
Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
, England. The company was established in early 1995 as ''North & South Railways'', successfully acquiring and merging five of the six freight companies that were sold during the
privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the industr ...
,The sixth rail freight company created during privatisation, Freightliner, was privatised through a
management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...
.
On 25 April 1996, the EWS brand was revealed and implemented over successive months. By the end of March 1997, it controlled 90% of the UK rail freight market, operated a fleet of 900 locomotives and 19,000 wagons, and had 7,000 employees. During the late 1990s, EWS invested heavily into rolling stock renewal, procuring a large number of
British Rail Class 66 The Class 66 is a type of six-axle diesel-electric freight locomotive developed in part from the , for use on the railways of the UK. Since its introduction the class has been successful and has been sold to British and other European railway co ...
diesel locomotives, headcount was also reduced. It also acquired
National Power National power is defined as the sum of all resources available to a nation in the pursuit of national objectives. Assessing the national power of political entities was already a matter of relevance during the classical antiquity, the middle ages ...
's open-access freight operator in April 1998. During January 2001, the
Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...
acquired a 42.5% stake in the business via its purchase of Wisconsin Central. In 2003, EWS lost the
Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...
contract to run
mail train Many countries have had dedicated railway services for the delivery of postal mail. Examples include: * In Australia, the Travelling post office, Queensland * In Austria, the (1850–2004) * In France, the (1984–2015) were rail cars built sp ...
s. In October 2005, it launched a subsidiary,
Euro Cargo Rail DB Cargo France is a French rail freight operator. It is presently a subsidiary of the German state-owned logistics company DB Cargo. DB Cargo France was originally established as Euro Cargo Rail (ECR) in early 2005 by the British freight comp ...
, to focus on the French market; that same year, the company acquired the wagon maintenance business Marcroft. During 2006, the
Office of Rail Regulation The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways. ORR regulates Network Rail by setting its ...
fined EWS £4.1million for anti-competitive practices in the coal haulage sector. During November 2007, the company was sold to the German train operator
Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...
in exchange for £309 million. In January 2009, EWS was rebranded as DB Schenker. In November 2011, a weekly service using European sized swap bodies commenced between Barking, London and Wroclaw, Poland using
High Speed 1 High Speed 1 (HS1), legally the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel. It is part of a line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Europe; ...
. During March 2016, the company was rebranded as DB Cargo UK. In October 2016, DB Cargo announced plans to cut 893 jobs in response to a sharp downturn in coal and steel traffic. In the following year, it announced a loss after tax for the financial year of £57 million against a turnover of £325 million. Over the next two years, the company's fleet size was reduced somewhat, mainly through the disposal or sale of older elements. During 2019, DB Cargo signed an agreement with Maritime Transport Ltd to launch a new rail freight operation, ''Maritime Intermodal''.


History


Background

In 1988,
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 ...
's (BR) freight operations were split into two divisions
Railfreight Distribution Railfreight Distribution was a sub-sector of British Rail, created by the division in 1987 of British Rail's previous Railfreight sector. It was responsible for non-trainload freight operations, as well as Freightliner and Intermodal services ...
(RfD) and
Trainload Freight Trainload Freight was the sector of British Rail responsible for trainload freight services. The division was subdivided into four sub-sectors; coal, petroleum, metals and construction. It was formed in 1988 from the trainload operations of Bri ...
(TLF). RfD took over BR's Freightliner and
Speedlink Speedlink was a wagonload freight service operated by British Rail from 1977 to 1991 using air-braked wagons. History Background, 1970s In the late 1960s British Rail (BR) was loss making and government supported; government and British Rail ...
services and general
wagonload In rail freight transportation the terms wagonload or wagonload freight refer to trains made of single wagon consignments of freight. In the US and Canada the term carload refers to a single car of any kind, and manifest train refers to trains mad ...
and trainload services, excluding coal, petroleum, aggregates and metals. BR's bulk
trainload A unit train, also called a block train or a trainload service, is a train in which all cars (wagons) carry the same commodity and are shipped from the same origin to the same destination, without being split up or stored en route. They are disti ...
services were handled by the
Trainload Freight Trainload Freight was the sector of British Rail responsible for trainload freight services. The division was subdivided into four sub-sectors; coal, petroleum, metals and construction. It was formed in 1988 from the trainload operations of Bri ...
division. During 1991, the
Rail Express Systems Rail Express Systems (RES) was a sector of British Rail. This sector was responsible for transport of mail and parcels, including the travelling post office trains, as well as taking over charter operations from InterCity and haulage of the Roya ...
brand was created to handle mail and postal services. After the passing of the
Railways Act 1993 The Railways Act 1993c 43 was introduced by John Major's Conservative Party (UK), Conservative government and passed on 5 November 1993. It provided for the restructuring of the British Railways Board (BRB), the public corporation that owned and ...
, five rail freight companies were formed from RfD and TLF. On 1 April 1994, TLF was split into three separate geographical businesses: Trainload Freight North East, Trainload Freight West and Trainload Freight South East, with each initially given existing contracts, based on the geographic origin of the traffic flow or in the case of power station coal the split was determined by the location of the power stations concerned. There were also some trainload services previously operated by the contract services business of RfD. The three new businesses were to be re-branded as
Loadhaul Loadhaul Ltd. was a railfreight operator based in the north-east of the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1994, as part of the privatisation of British Rail, and acquired in 1996 by a consortium headed by Wisconsin Central, then merged into a ne ...
,
Mainline Freight Mainline Freight was a trainload rail freight operator based in Islington, London, England with operations extending to Yorkshire in the north and Somerset in the west. It was formed from part of British Rail's Trainload Freight division as pa ...
and
Transrail Freight Transrail was a trainload rail freight operator based in St Blazey, England, UK with a large operating area including Scotland, Wales and the west of England. It was formed in 1994 from part of British Rail's Trainload Freight division, as par ...
for the short duration of their existence. The remainder of RfD was split into two companies: Freightliner (
container A container is any receptacle or enclosure for holding a product used in storage, packaging, and transportation, including shipping. Things kept inside of a container are protected on several sides by being inside of its structure. The term ...
operations between ports), with the residual RfD company operating freight trains through the
Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...
. The Mail and Parcels business were sold as
Rail Express Systems Rail Express Systems (RES) was a sector of British Rail. This sector was responsible for transport of mail and parcels, including the travelling post office trains, as well as taking over charter operations from InterCity and haulage of the Roya ...
and
Red Star Parcels Red Star Parcels was a service which used passenger trains for transporting parcels between passenger railway stations throughout the United Kingdom, owned and operated by British Rail. It was introduced experimentally on 1 April 1963. Send ...
. These companies were subsequently put up for sale by competitive tender.


English, Welsh & Scottish Railway

A new company, ''North and South Railways Limited'', was formed for the purpose of bidding for the ex-BR freight businesses being offered for sale. It was owned by a consortium, headed by Wisconsin Central, and financed by multiple investment firms, including
Berkshire Partners Berkshire Partners is an American private equity firm based in Boston. It has invested in over 100 middle market companies since 1986 through nine investment funds with aggregate capital commitments of more than $16 billion. Berkshire has develo ...
,
Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...
and
Fay Richwhite Fay, Richwhite & Company is the investment vehicle of Switzerland-based New Zealand merchant bankers Sir Michael Fay and David Richwhite. The firm was the prime focus of the "Winebox Inquiry" which dealt with, among other things, tax-avoidance ...
. On 9 December 1995, North and South Railways purchased
Rail Express Systems Rail Express Systems (RES) was a sector of British Rail. This sector was responsible for transport of mail and parcels, including the travelling post office trains, as well as taking over charter operations from InterCity and haulage of the Roya ...
for £24 million. With this purchase came the contract for the
Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...
train service, including the
Travelling Post Office A Travelling Post Office (TPO) was a type of mail train used in Great Britain and Ireland where the post was sorted en route. The TPO can be traced back to the earlier days of the railway, the first ever postal movement by rail being performe ...
trains, and the contract to haul the
Royal Train A royal train is a set of railway carriages dedicated for the use of the monarch or other members of a royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages. Australia The various government railway operators of A ...
. A fleet of 164 locomotives and 677 postal vans were included along with depots at
Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
Barton Hill,
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
,
Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...
and
London Euston Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...
. Then, on 24 February 1996, British Rail's three
trainload A unit train, also called a block train or a trainload service, is a train in which all cars (wagons) carry the same commodity and are shipped from the same origin to the same destination, without being split up or stored en route. They are disti ...
freight companies,
Loadhaul Loadhaul Ltd. was a railfreight operator based in the north-east of the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1994, as part of the privatisation of British Rail, and acquired in 1996 by a consortium headed by Wisconsin Central, then merged into a ne ...
,
Mainline Freight Mainline Freight was a trainload rail freight operator based in Islington, London, England with operations extending to Yorkshire in the north and Somerset in the west. It was formed from part of British Rail's Trainload Freight division as pa ...
and
Transrail Freight Transrail was a trainload rail freight operator based in St Blazey, England, UK with a large operating area including Scotland, Wales and the west of England. It was formed in 1994 from part of British Rail's Trainload Freight division, as par ...
were acquired for £225 million. The sale included 914 locomotives and 19,310 wagons. All four companies were subsequently merged into North and South Railways, nullifying the government's effort to create multiple competitive rail freight firms through the privatisation; the decision to allow the creation of a rail freight company with a dominant market position was justified by the additional competition faced from other transport modes. At the time, rail had a 6% share of the freight market. Initially, the four companies continued to trade under their existing names. However, on 25 April 1996, the ''English, Welsh & Scottish'' (EWS) brand was unveiled. On 10 July 1996, in accordance with the new branding, the holding company's name was changed to ''English, Welsh & Scottish Railway Holdings Limited''. In October 1996, Loadhaul and Mainline Freight were merged with Transrail Freight, and employees transferred to Transrail Freight, which was then renamed to English, Welsh & Scottish Railway Limited. One of the first actions of the enlarged company was to seek volunteers for redundancy, as it sought to reduce staff numbers by around 3,000, from 7,600. On 24 December 1996, EWS was announced as the preferred bidder for the loss-making
Railfreight Distribution Railfreight Distribution was a sub-sector of British Rail, created by the division in 1987 of British Rail's previous Railfreight sector. It was responsible for non-trainload freight operations, as well as Freightliner and Intermodal services ...
, for which it received grants and subsidies estimated to amount to £242 million over eight years . including subsidies for the use of the
Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...
. Railfreight Distribution's businesses included international containerised freight, movement of cars and automotive components by rail, and freight services for the
Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
. The sale, which included 157 locomotives, was concluded on 12 March 1997. At this point, EWS controlled 90% of the rail freight market. Railfreight Distribution was renamed ''English Welsh & Scottish Railway International'' on 1 December 1998. The new company had a vast portfolio, comprising in excess of 900 locomotives, 19,000 freight wagons, and 7,000 employees. Track access charges were renegotiated and, following 1,800 job redundancies, the work force was involved in profit sharing and other incentivised working plans; as a consequence, shipping rates were reduced by over 30%. Many locomotives inherited on foundation were considered unreliable, and expensive to maintain; the company invested heavily in modernisation of its rolling stock; by 2002, £750 million had been invested in this manner, resulting in the delivery of 280 new locomotives and in excess of 2,000 new wagons.The main orders were: 250
EMD Series 66 The Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD) Class 66 (or JT42CWR) are Co-Co diesel locomotives built by EMD for the European heavy freight market. Designed for use in Great Britain as the British Rail Class 66, a development of the Class 59, they have bee ...
locomotives from
GM-EMD Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its sub ...
built in USA/Canada, 30
JT 42HW-HS The Class 67 locomotives are a class of Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives that were built for the English Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS) between 1999 and 2000 by Alstom at Meinfesa in Valencia, Spain with drive components (engine, generator and ...
from
Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...
/
Electro Motive Diesel Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its sub ...
(Spain/USA), and around 2500 wagons from
Thrall Car Manufacturing Company Thrall Car Manufacturing Company was a manufacturer of railroad freight cars in Chicago Heights, Illinois from 1917 to 2001. The company was sold to Trinity Industries in 2001. Company history A.J. Thrall established the Union Wagon Company in 191 ...
, built at the Thrall Europa, York works.
Around this time, the company was represented by a logo that was colloquially known as the "Beasties", consisting of three heads: the lion of England, the dragon of Wales and the stag of Scotland. A larger version of the logo was called the "Big Beasties". Services included mail, locomotive hire, wagonload traffic (branded 'Enterprise', founded by Transrail Freight), cross channel trains via the
Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...
, trainload freight including oil, aggregates, cement and traffic related to the coal, electricity generation and steel industries, and infrastructure trains for
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 ...
. Following privatisation EWS began to compete for Intermodal contracts, while it faced competition from Freightliner in its core markets. In 1999, the company's turnover was £533.7 million, representing an 80% market share in terms of value. On 1 April 1998, open access operator
National Power National power is defined as the sum of all resources available to a nation in the pursuit of national objectives. Assessing the national power of political entities was already a matter of relevance during the classical antiquity, the middle ages ...
's rail division was taken over by EWS, along with its six Class 59 locomotives and 106 wagons. During late January 2001, the
Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...
announced it had agreed to purchase Wisconsin Central. The deal, which included Wisconsin Central's 42.5% stake in EWS, was concluded in October 2001. During 2003, the Royal Mail terminated its mail train contract with EWS, this traffic was transferred to aircraft and road transport instead. EWS acquired the assets of wagon bogie company ''Probotec Limited'' in 2005, It was formed into a new subsidiary, Axiom Rail that also took over responsibility for some of the depots and leasing surplus locomotives overseas. During October 2005, the company launched a new subsidiary, which traded as
Euro Cargo Rail DB Cargo France is a French rail freight operator. It is presently a subsidiary of the German state-owned logistics company DB Cargo. DB Cargo France was originally established as Euro Cargo Rail (ECR) in early 2005 by the British freight comp ...
, based in the French market. Several Class 66 locomotives were transferred from EWS to Euro Cargo Rail. In November 2005, EWS acquired the wagon maintenance business ''Marcroft''. As a result of the potential of the acquisition to reduce competition in the UK wagon repair market ,the acquisition was referred to the
Competition Commission The Competition Commission was a non-departmental public body responsible for investigating mergers, markets and other enquiries related to regulated industries under competition law in the United Kingdom. It was a competition regulator under t ...
by the
Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic ...
, who required EWS to sell all or part of the business excluding Marcroft's works at
Stoke on Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375. It is the largest settlement ...
. The Stoke on Trent works was instead incorporated into the Axiom business. By 2006, company turnover was reportedly approaching £1 billion. In 2006, the
Office of Rail Regulation The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways. ORR regulates Network Rail by setting its ...
fined EWS £4.1million for engaging in
anti-competitive Anti-competitive practices are business or government practices that prevent or reduce competition in a market. Antitrust laws differ among state and federal laws to ensure businesses do not engage in competitive practices that harm other, usuall ...
practices in the coal haulage business; at the time, the company held a virtual monopoly on such traffic; its practices had led to official complaints from both
Enron Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. ...
and
Freightliner Heavy Haul Freightliner Group is a rail freight and logistics company headquartered in the United Kingdom. It is presently a wholly owned subsidiary of the American holding company Genesee & Wyoming. It was originally created after the Transport Act 1968 ...
in the early 2000s.


DB Cargo UK

On 28 June 2007,
Deutsche Bahn The (; abbreviated as DB or DB AG) is the national railway company of Germany. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). The Federal Republic of Germany is its single shareholder. describes itself as the se ...
announced it had agreed to purchase EWS, subject to receiving regulatory approval, in exchange for £309 million. At the time of the acquisition, EWS had a market share of around 70% in the United Kingdom rail freight sector and had around 5,000 employees. After the transaction was approved by the
European Commissioner for Competition The Commissioner for Competition is the member of the European Commission responsible for competition. The current commissioner is Margrethe Vestager ( ALDE). Responsibilities The portfolio has responsibility for such matters as commercial co ...
, the transaction was completed on 13 November 2007. At the time of the sale, it was announced that EWS would not be rebranded, however, on 1 January 2009, EWS was rebranded as ''DB Schenker'' along with Deutsche Bahn's
Railion DB Cargo (previously known as Railion and DB Schenker Rail) is an international transport and logistics company. It is responsible for all of the rail freight transport activities of the German railway company Deutsche Bahn (the DB Group) bo ...
and
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 ...
divisions. The first locomotive painted in DB Schenker livery was Class 59 59206 at Toton Depot in January 2009, being formally unveiled at the
National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum is a museum in York forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historically significant r ...
,
York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
on 21 January 2009. During 2009, DB Schenker Rail began work to enable Class 92 hauled trains to operate freight services on the
High Speed 1 High Speed 1 (HS1), legally the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel. It is part of a line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Europe; ...
by installing in cab TVM signalling. The project received funding from the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...
and it was originally anticipated services would begin in early 2010. On 25 March 2011, a modified Class 92 locomotive travelled from Dollands Moor to Singlewell using the TVM430 signalling system for the first time. The first of five planned test trains ran as a loaded container train from
Hams Hall Hams Hall is a place near Lea Marston in North Warwickshire, England, named after the former Hams Hall manor house. A power station at Hams Hall was constructed and operated in the late 1920s; a further two power stations began generating electr ...
,
West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
to
Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is ...
,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
on 27 May 2011. DB planned to upgrade an additional five Class 92 locomotives to allow them to run on High Speed 1, making a fleet of six. In July 2011, a trial run of wagons carrying curtain walled swap bodies built to a larger European
loading gauge A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and ke ...
was run from Dollands Moor, Folkestone to east London. From 11 November 2011, a weekly service using European sized swap bodies has run between
Barking, London Barking is a suburb and List of areas of London, area in Greater London, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It is east of Charing Cross. The total population of Barking was 59,068 at the 2011 cen ...
and Wroclaw, Poland using High Speed 1. On 2 March 2016, DB Schenker was rebranded as DB Cargo UK. On 17 October 2016, new DB Cargo UK CEO Hans-Georg Werner announced plans to cut 893 jobs in a bid to counter 'unprecedented' market changes, these being a combination of factors, including changes in the British Government's energy policy that had resulted in the early closure of coal-fired power stations, hence DB Cargo UK ran 78% fewer coal trains compared to 2015, while UK steel volumes were also dropping as the industry had been impacted by high energy prices; this resulted in DB Cargo UK running 33% fewer steel trains from 2015. However, Werner recognised that "overall UK steel demand remains stable". During 2017, DB Cargo UK announced an after-tax loss for the financial year of £57 million against a turnover of £325 million.


Maritime Intermodal

In early 2019, DB Cargo signed an agreement with Maritime Transport Ltd to create a new rail freight operation called ''Maritime Intermodal''. From 1 April 2019, Maritime took over the running of DB's freight terminals at Trafford Park (Manchester), Birmingham (Birch Coppice) and
Wakefield Europort Wakefield Europort is a rail-connected warehousing and industrial estate located to the northeast of Wakefield at junction 31 of the M62 motorway in West Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1996 in anticipation of increased international railfreigh ...
. Seven
British Rail Class 66 The Class 66 is a type of six-axle diesel-electric freight locomotive developed in part from the , for use on the railways of the UK. Since its introduction the class has been successful and has been sold to British and other European railway co ...
locomotives have been repainted in blue Maritime livery and named: * 66005 ''Maritime Intermodal One'' * 66047 ''Maritime Intermodal Two'' * 66142 ''Maritime Intermodal Three'' * 66051 ''Maritime Intermodal Four'' * 66162 ''Maritime Intermodal Five'' * 66090 ''Maritime Intermodal Six'' * 66148 ''Maritime Intermodal Seven'' It is expected that up to ten locomotives will receive the blue livery.


Services and rolling stock


Rolling stock

EWS inherited a fleet of 1,231 locomotives from its British Rail acquisitions. This fleet, which was mainly diesel powered, had an average age in excess of 30 years; furthermore, roughly 300 were inoperable, having been cannibalised for spares. To enable the company to offer lower pricing to customers, EWS needed to reduce operating costs and increase availability, and quickly concluded that this goal would require new traction to be procured. During May 1996, the company placed a £375 million order for 250 Class 66 and 30 Class 67 diesel-electric locomotives with the American locomotive manufacturer
Electro-Motive Diesel Progress Rail Locomotives, doing business as Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), is an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. The company is owned by Caterpillar through its sub ...
(EMD); the deal was referred to as "the biggest British loco order since steam days". These replaced a large proportion of its original fleet, including all of the 20, 31, 33, 37, 47, 56, 58, 73 and 86 class locomotives. Through improved utilisation, they also replaced many of the newer 60 and 90 class locomotives as well. During 1999, EWS gained the attention of the
Rail Regulator The Rail Regulator was a statutory office, created with effect from 1 December 1993 by section 1 of the Railways Act 1993, for the independent economic regulation of the British railway industry. The office was abolished from 4 July 2004, using ...
for its practice of scrapping serviceable locomotives rather than making them available for sale to potential competitors; on future disposals, the company was compelled to make efforts to sell units before being allowed to scrap them. Several of the firm's redundant locomotives saw further use on infrastructure trains in Europe, such as numerous Class 37s operated in France (40), Italy (2) and Spain (14), Class 56s in France (30),France
wnxx.com
and Class 58s in France (26), the Netherlands (3) and Spain (8). During September 2010, twenty Class 60s were offered for disposal by DB Schenker. Many had been marked for disposal had sustained catastrophic failures or were otherwise in a poor condition. During November 2010, the firm announced that a batch of 20 Class 60s would be overhauled. According to Rail Magazine, rumours that DB Schenker was interested in replacing the Class 60's engines were prevalent around this time. In January 2011, DB Schenker announced that seven units would undergo overhauls, along with an option to overhaul a further fourteen members of the class; this work reportedly extended the fleet's operational life by 15 years. During January 2013, the overhaul programme was described as an "upgrade" that created a new fleet of "Super 60's". The programme involved the complete overhaul, but not total replacement, of the locomotive's engine, as well as the refurbishment of various elements, including the traction motors, bogies, control gear, cabs, and electrical systems. In 2018, DB Cargo sold ten Class 66 locomotives to GBRf for an undisclosed sum, comprising eight stored and two active locomotives many with significant engine defects. In 2019, it also sold all of its 59/2 fleet to Freightliner following the latter's takeover of the Mendip stone traffic. DB Cargo also sold five Class 60s to private sales/metal recyclers.


Current fleet in the UK


Exported locomotives


Former fleet

File:20030 and 20064 Shirebrook Depot.jpg, Class 20 File:31255 at Colne Valley Railway.jpg, Class 31 File:33 030 in EWS Livery.jpg, Class 33 File:37411 'The Scottish Railway Preservation Society' at Carlisle.JPG, Class 37 File:47787 at Rugby.jpg, Class 47 File:56115 'Barry Needham' at Cheltenham Spa.JPG, Class 56 File:BREL Class 58 No 58024 (8061865357).jpg, Class 58 File:Hugh llewelyn 73 128 (6239931007).jpg, Class 73 File:86261 'The Rail Charter Partnership' at Doncaster Works.JPG, Class 86


Carriages and wagons

As well as an extensive fleet of freight wagons, DB Schenker Rail operate a small fleet of
Mark 2 Mark 2 is the second chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. In this chapter, the first arguments between Jesus and other Jewish religious teachers appear. Jesus heals a paralyzed man and forgives his sins, m ...
and
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 ...
carriages, some of the latter form the DB Schenker Company Train.


Depots

DB Cargo's primary maintenance depot is
Toton Toton is a large village in the Borough of Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire, England. The electoral ward of Toton and Chilwell Meadows population of this ward was 7,298 in the 2001 census. It increased to 8,238 at the 2011 census. Until 1974 Toton ...
. The electric fleet is maintained at
Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...
. With a modern fleet requiring less maintenance, many of the depots EWS inherited have closed. Some of its other facilities including Bristol Barton Hill,
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
,
Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...
and
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
were transferred to fellow Deutsche Bahn subsidiary LNWR (now
Arriva TrainCare Arriva TrainCare (formerly LNWR) is a railway rolling stock maintenance company. Formed in 1993 by Pete Waterman, it is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. History In 1993, Pete Waterman formed LNWR to provide maintenance for locomotives and roll ...
). During 2001, EWS commenced a contract to service
Virgin CrossCountry Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom operating the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Virgin CrossCountry operated some of the longest direct rail services in th ...
's Class 220/
221 __NOTOC__ Year 221 (Roman numerals, CCXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gratus and Vitellius (or, less frequently, ...
fleets at Bristol Barton Hill, Eastleigh, Newcastle,
Old Oak Common Old Oak Common is an area of Hammersmith, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, West London. Together with neighbouring Park Royal, the area is intended to become the UK's largest regeneration scheme, the scale of which has led to ...
and Three Bridges.


Locomotive haulage for passenger services

Since its inception, EWS had provided locomotives for the ''
Caledonian Sleeper ''Caledonian Sleeper'' is the collective name for overnight sleeper train services between London and Scotland, in the United Kingdom. It is one of only two currently operating sleeper services on the railway in the United Kingdom, the other b ...
''. It inherited the contract from Rail Express Systems to provide Class 37 and 47s north of
Edinburgh Waverley Edinburgh Waverley railway station (also known simply as Waverley; gd, Waverley Dhùn Èideann) is the principal railway station serving Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the second busiest station in Scotland, after Glasgow Central. It is the north ...
. During March 1998, it also began hauling the services south from Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central to
London Euston Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...
with Class 90s. Class 67s replaced the Class 37s and 47s in the early 2000s. This contract was taken over by GBRf in March 2015. During April 2003, EWS purchased the Rail Charter Services business from William McAlpine along with its 70 Mark 1 carriages. By October 2014, EWS Class 67s had started hauling passenger services on behalf of
Arriva Trains Wales Arriva Trains Wales (ATW; cy, Trenau Arriva Cymru) was a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains that operated the Wales & Borders franchise. It ran urban and inter-urban passenger services to all railway stations in Wales, ...
,
Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways, formally The Chiltern Railway Company Limited, is a British train operating company that has operated the Chiltern Railways franchise since July 1996. Since 2009, it has been a subsidiary of Arriva UK Trains. Chiltern Railw ...
and
First ScotRail First ScotRail was a train operating company in Scotland owned by FirstGroup which operated the ScotRail franchise from October 2004 until March 2015. Prior to October 2004, trains were run by ScotRail (National Express). First ScotRail was s ...
. Class 67s are also used as ''
Thunderbird Thunderbird, thunder bird or thunderbirds may refer to: * Thunderbird (mythology), a legendary creature in certain North American indigenous peoples' history and culture * Ford Thunderbird, a car Birds * Dromornithidae, extinct flightless birds ...
'' rescue locomotives for
London North Eastern Railway London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is a British train operating company. It is owned by the DfT OLR Holdings for the Department for Transport (DfT). The company's name echoes that of the London and North Eastern Railway, one of the Big Four ...
. EWS also provides locomotives for the
Venice-Simplon Orient Express The ''Venice Simplon-Orient-Express'' (VSOE) is a private luxury train service from London to Venice and other European cities. It is currently owned by Belmond, which operates 45 luxury hotels, restaurants, tourist trains and river cruises in ...
. EWS have previously hauled passenger trains for
Anglia Railways Anglia Railways was a train operating company in England, owned by GB Railways and later FirstGroup, that operated the Anglia franchise from January 1997 until March 2004. History The InterCity Anglia franchise was awarded by the Director of P ...
,
Arriva Trains Northern Arriva Trains Northern was a train operating company in England owned by Arriva that operated the Regional Railways North East franchise from March 1997 until December 2004. Arriva resumed operating Northern train services again on 1 April 2016 ...
,
First Great Western Great Western Railway (GWR) is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the Greater Western passenger railway franchise. It manages 197 stations and its trains call at over 270. GWR operates long-distance inter-city ...
First North Western First North Western was a train operating company in England owned by FirstGroup that operated the North West Regional Railways franchise from March 1997 until December 2004. History In the lead up to the privatisation of British Rail, the Nort ...
,
National Express East Anglia National Express East Anglia (NXEA) was a train operating company in England owned by National Express that operated the Greater Anglia franchise from April 2004 until February 2012. Originally trading as ''One'', it was rebranded National Exp ...
,
Valley Lines Valleys & Cardiff Local Routes ( cy, Llwybrau Lleol y Cymoedd a Chaerdydd) (formerly Valley Lines) is the network of passenger suburban railway services radiating from Cardiff, Wales. It includes lines within the city itself, the Vale of Glam ...
,
Virgin CrossCountry Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom operating the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Virgin CrossCountry operated some of the longest direct rail services in th ...
Virgin West Coast Virgin Trains (legal name West Coast Trains Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Virgin Rail Group, a joint venture between Virgin Group and Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from ...
and
Wrexham & Shropshire Wrexham & Shropshire (legally ''Wrexham, Shropshire & Marylebone Railway Company Limited'') was an open access operator that provided passenger rail services in the United Kingdom. Services between Wrexham and London Marylebone operated from A ...
. Since its inception, EWS has held the contract to operate the
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. Initially, two Class 47s were dedicated to this work; these were replaced in 2004 by a pair of Class 67s. From September 2016,
Virgin Trains East Coast Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) (legal name East Coast Main Line Company Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the ...
hired class 90 locomotives from DB Cargo for use on services to Leeds, York and Newcastle. Locomotives used have varied as demand required.


Liveries

During April 1996, EWS adopted a maroon and yellow livery. Initial repaints carried EW&S lettering, however, this was simplified to EWS in January 1997. In January 2009, the DB Schenker corporate red livery was adopted. A few locomotives have been repainted in other liveries including Class 90s in
GNER Great North Eastern Railway, often referred to as GNER, was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, owned by Sea Containers, that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, No ...
,
First ScotRail First ScotRail was a train operating company in Scotland owned by FirstGroup which operated the ScotRail franchise from October 2004 until March 2015. Prior to October 2004, trains were run by ScotRail (National Express). First ScotRail was s ...
and
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, ...
liveries, and Class 67s in
Royal Train A royal train is a set of railway carriages dedicated for the use of the monarch or other members of a royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages. Australia The various government railway operators of A ...
,
Wrexham & Shropshire Wrexham & Shropshire (legally ''Wrexham, Shropshire & Marylebone Railway Company Limited'') was an open access operator that provided passenger rail services in the United Kingdom. Services between Wrexham and London Marylebone operated from A ...
and unbranded
Arriva Trains Wales Arriva Trains Wales (ATW; cy, Trenau Arriva Cymru) was a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains that operated the Wales & Borders franchise. It ran urban and inter-urban passenger services to all railway stations in Wales, ...
liveries.


Steam operations

Alongside DB Cargo's regular operations, a number of steam
charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
s are operated in the UK by steam locomotives on DB Cargo's operating licence.


See also

*
DB Cargo Company Train The DB Cargo Company Train (formerly the DB Schenker Company Train and the EWS Company Train) is a special train operated in the United Kingdom by freight operator DB Cargo UK (formerly DB Schenker Rail (UK) formerly English Welsh & Scottish), a d ...
*
History of rail transport in Great Britain :''This article is part of the history of rail transport by country series.'' The railway system of Great Britain started with the building of local isolated wooden wagonways starting in the 1560s. A patchwork of local rail links operated by s ...
*
List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom There are many companies operating trains in the United Kingdom, including the operators of franchised passenger services, officially referred to as train operating companies (TOCs), as distinct from freight operating companies. Passenger o ...
* Rail freight transport in Great Britain


Notes


References


Sources

* * * * * * *


Further reading

*


External links

* * {{Deutsche Bahn Deutsche Bahn Companies based in Doncaster Railway companies established in 1995 Rail freight companies in the United Kingdom British companies established in 1995