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DB Cargo UK (formerly DB Schenker Rail UK and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway) is a British rail freight company owned by
Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...
and headquartered in
Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...
, England. The company was established by Wisconsin Central 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 Rail transport in Great Britain, railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely compl ...
.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 buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...
.
On 25 April 1996, the English, Welsh & Scottish 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 diesel locomotives. EWS reduced staff numbers, aiming to reduce numbers by around 3,000 when merging the companies. 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 () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...
acquired a 42.5% stake in the business via its purchase of Wisconsin Central. In 2003, EWS lost the
Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...
contract to run mail trains. In October 2005, it launched a subsidiary, Euro Cargo Rail, 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 a ...
fined EWS £4.1million for anti-competitive practices in the coal haulage sector. In November 2007, the company was bought by German train operator
Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...
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
Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...
, Poland using
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. In 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 rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...
's (BR) freight operations were split into two divisions Railfreight Distribution (RfD) and Trainload Freight (TLF). RfD took over BR's Freightliner and Speedlink services and general wagonload and trainload services, excluding coal, petroleum, aggregates and metals. BR's bulk trainload services were handled by the Trainload Freight 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 (British Rail), InterC ...
brand was created to handle mail and postal services. After the passing of the Railways Act 1993, 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 Ltd., Wisconsin Centra ...
,
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 par ...
and Transrail Freight 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 (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...
. 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 (British Rail), InterC ...
and Red Star Parcels. 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
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,
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and Fay Richwhite. 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 (British Rail), InterC ...
for £24 million. With this purchase came the contract for the
Royal Mail Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...
train service, including the
Travelling Post Office A Travelling Post Office (TPO) was a type of mail train used in Great Britain and Republic of Ireland, Ireland where the post was sorted en route, used from 1830 to 1996, with non-TPO mail trains ending in 2024. The TPO can be traced back to ...
trains, and the contract to haul the Royal Train. A fleet of 164 locomotives and 677 postal vans were included along with depots at Bristol Barton Hill,
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
,
Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...
and London Euston. Then, on 24 February 1996, British Rail's three trainload 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 Ltd., Wisconsin Centra ...
,
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 par ...
and Transrail Freight 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, 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 (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...
. Railfreight Distribution's businesses included international containerised freight, movement of cars and automotive components by rail, and freight services for the
Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...
. 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 locomotives from GM-EMD built in USA/Canada, 30 JT 42HW-HS from
Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...
/ Electro Motive Diesel (Spain/USA), and around 2500 wagons from Thrall Car Manufacturing Company, 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 (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...
, 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 railroad, track, railway signalling, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the railway station, stations of the Transport in England#Rail, British railway syste ...
. 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 () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...
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, 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''. Due to 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 economi ...
, which required EWS to sell all or part of the business, excluding Marcroft's works at Stoke on Trent, which were incorporated into Axiom. 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 a ...
fined EWS £4.1 million for engaging in
anti-competitive Anti-competitive practices are business or government practices that prevent or reduce competition in a market. Antitrust laws ensure businesses do not engage in competitive practices that harm other, usually smaller, businesses or consumers. ...
practices in the coal haulage business; at the time, the company held a virtual monopoly on such traffic, and its practices had led to official complaints from both
Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...
and Freightliner Heavy Haul in the early 2000s.


DB Cargo UK

On 28 June 2007,
Deutsche Bahn (, ; abbreviated as DB or DB AG ) is the national railway company of Germany, and a state-owned enterprise under the control of the German government. Headquartered in the Bahntower in Berlin, it is a joint-stock company ( AG). DB was fou ...
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 (economics), competition. The current commissioner is Teresa Ribera (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party). Responsibilities The portfolio has r ...
, 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 and DB Schenker 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 (NRM) is a museum in York, England, 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 historical ...
,
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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), officially the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel. It is part of the line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Euro ...
by installing in cab TVM signalling. The project received funding from the
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...
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, West Midlands to
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, Italy 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 k ...
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 riverside town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. It is east of Charing Cross. The total population of Barking was 59,068 at the 2011 census.If defined as the Abbey, Eastbury, Gascoigne, L ...
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. Seven British Rail Class 66 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 Electro-Motive Diesel (abbreviated EMD) is a brand of diesel-electric locomotives, locomotive products and diesel engines for the rail industry. Formerly a division of General Motors, EMD has been owned by Progress Rail since 2010. Electro-Motive ...
(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 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
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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 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. In 2023 in response to the UK Energy crisis DB Cargo UK's current managing director Andrea Rossi announced intentions to withdraw all of their Class 90s with the intention to sell or scrap the locomotives with Rossi stating that the running of electric hauled traction was no longer economically viable, the company instead decided that electric hauled traction would be replaced by diesel traction such as the Class 66 locomotive. The company also stated that they will pledge for further research and implementation of alternative EVO based fuels to meet their climate targets. In September 2023 12 Class 90s were offered for sale on DB's website; the locomotives listed were; 90017, 90018, 90022, 90023, 90025, 90027, 90030, 90031, 90032, 90033, 90038 and 90040.


Current fleet in the UK


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:Hugh llewelyn 73 128 (6239931007).jpg, Class 73


Carriages and wagons

As well as an extensive fleet of freight wagons, DB Schenker Rail operate a small fleet of Mark 2 and Mark 3 carriages, some of the latter form the DB Cargo Company Train.


Depots

DB Cargo's primary maintenance depot is
Toton Toton is a large suburban village in the Borough of Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire, England. It forms part of the built-up area of Beeston, Nottinghamshire, Beeston, which in turn forms part of the wider Nottingham Urban Area. The population of th ...
. 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. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...
. 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 List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
, Eastleigh and
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
were transferred to fellow Deutsche Bahn subsidiary LNWR (now Arriva TrainCare). During 2001, EWS commenced a contract to service
Virgin CrossCountry Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operated the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Along with the InterCity West Coast franchise held by a separate legal ...
's Class 220/
221 __NOTOC__ Year 221 ( CCXXI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Gratus and Vitellius (or, less frequently, year 974 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 221 ...
fleets at Bristol Barton Hill, Eastleigh, Newcastle,
Old Oak Common Old Oak Common is a semi-industrial area of London, between Harlesden and Acton, London, Acton. The area is traditionally known for its railway traction maintenance depot, depots, particularly Old Oak Common TMD which was decommissioned in 2021. ...
and Three Bridges.


Passenger locomotive haulage

Since its inception, EWS had provided locomotives for the ''
Caledonian Sleeper ''Caledonian Sleeper'' is the collective name for overnight Sleeping car, 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 ...
''. It inherited the contract from Rail Express Systems to provide Class 37 and 47s north of Edinburgh Waverley. During March 1998, it also began hauling the services south from Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Central to London Euston 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,
Chiltern Railways Chiltern Railways (legal name 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 Rail ...
and
First ScotRail First ScotRail was a train operating company in Scotland owned by FirstGroup. It operated the ScotRail franchise between October 2004 and March 2015. On 17 October 2004, First ScotRail took over operations from the incumbent franchisee, ScotRai ...
. Class 67s are also used as '' Thunderbird'' rescue locomotives for
London North Eastern Railway London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is a British train operating company which operates most services on the East Coast Main Line. It is owned by DfT Operator for the Department for Transport (DfT). The company's name echoes that of the Londo ...
. EWS also provides locomotives for the Venice-Simplon Orient Express. 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 Anglia franchise was awarded by the Director of Passenger Ra ...
, Arriva Trains Northern, First Great Western First North Western, National Express East Anglia, Valley Lines,
Virgin CrossCountry Virgin CrossCountry was a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operated the InterCity CrossCountry passenger franchise from January 1997 until November 2007. Along with the InterCity West Coast franchise held by a separate legal ...
Virgin West Coast Virgin Trains (VT) (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 Group, Stagecoach, which operated the InterCity West C ...
and Wrexham & Shropshire. Since its inception, EWS has held the contract to operate the Royal Train. 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 No ...
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,
First ScotRail First ScotRail was a train operating company in Scotland owned by FirstGroup. It operated the ScotRail franchise between October 2004 and March 2015. On 17 October 2004, First ScotRail took over operations from the incumbent franchisee, ScotRai ...
and Direct Rail Services liveries, and Class 67s in Royal Train, Wrexham & Shropshire and unbranded Arriva Trains 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 ...
s are operated in the UK by steam locomotives on DB Cargo's operating licence.


See also

* DB Cargo Company Train *
History of rail transport in Great Britain The Rail transport in Great Britain, 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 small private railway companies developed in t ...
* List of companies operating trains in the United Kingdom * 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