 | |
 | |
| Industry | Rail freight |
|---|---|
| Predecessor |
|
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Doncaster, England |
Area served | United Kingdom |
Key people |
|
| Services | Bulk freight and intermodal logistics |
| Owner | Deutsche Bahn |
| Parent | DB Cargo |
| Subsidiaries |
|
| Website | uk |
DB Cargo UK (formerly DB Schenker Rail UK and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway), is a British rail freight company owned by Deutsche Bahn AG and headquartered in Doncaster, 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.[note 1] 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's open-access freight operator in April 1998.
During January 2001, the Canadian National Railway acquired a 42.5% stake in the business via its purchase of Wisconsin Central. In 2003, EWS lost the Royal Mail 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 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 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, Poland using High Speed 1. 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.
- ^ "Edward A. Burkhardt". www.railword.com (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 11 December 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
- ^ Phillips, Don (25 August 2005). "Free Flow: Getting the French on board". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
- ^ "Keith Heller's contribution to the railway honoured with locomotive naming". www.rail.dbschenker.co.uk. DB Schenker UK. 19 January 2010. Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
- ^ "Alain Thauvette, Member of the Management Board of DB Schenker Rail (Region West)". www.dbschenker.com. Archived from the original on 19 June 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
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