Month: March 2018

Wizard show help guide dogs for the blind

Posted on by plongf4

Leanne Buckley, GBRf’s Peterborough-based Locomotive Fleet Planner called on the Wizard of OBS to help her dance school put on a whizz of a show to raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind. Leanne joined the Vera Frances School of Dance a year ago, just as it was to put on a three-night production of the Wizard of Oz. Everyone involved with the school was asked for sponsorship suggestions and Leanne asked GBRf for support to cover the cost of producing the programme.

“We wanted every penny to go to the charity,” explained Leanne, who had landed the part of an Emerald City Guard. “With GBRf’s help we managed to smash our target and beat previous shows by quite a margin.”

GB Railfreight and Biffa christen “The Flying Dustman”

Posted on by plongf4

GB Railfreight and Biffa christen “The Flying Dustman”

Today (Wednesday 28th March) GB Railfreight (GBRf) and Biffa, the waste management company, christen locomotive 66 783 “The Flying Dustman”, to mark the partnership between the two firms. The locomotive has also been painted red in honour of Biffa, rather than the usual blue seen on most of GBRf’s other locomotives.

“The Flying Dustman” was chosen following a naming competition amongst Biffa staff, who were keen to pay light-hearted homage to the historic passenger train service, “The Flying Scotsman”.

The locomotive, which will haul waste on routes across the UK, was named at a ceremony on platform 7 at York station at 2.45pm this afternoon. The locomotive was officially named by John Smith, Managing Director of GB Railfreight and Ian Wakelin, CEO of Biffa.

Mr Smith said:

“We are delighted that GBRf are bringing a sense of fun to the industry with today’s naming. It could not be more fitting name for our collaboration with Biffa, one of the UK’s leading waste management companies, and we look forward to working together over the coming years.”

Mick Davis, Managing Director of Resource Recovery & Treatment Division at Biffa, said:

“The launch of “The Flying Dustman” is an exciting development for Biffa. The partnership with GBRf marks another step forward in our strategy to develop our waste management infrastructure and innovate our customer offering. By increasing the mobility of inactive waste, rail transportation will enhance our service offerings from our existing landfill network whilst also providing significant environmental benefits compared to road transportation. We look forward to working with GBRf over the years to come.”

The locomotive will be seen around the whole of the UK, hauling all kinds of freight from waste and biomass to intermodal.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:
Westbourne Communications
020 3397 0100
GBRF@westbournecoms.com

About GB Railfreight
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in London, United Kingdom, GB Railfreight is the third largest rail freight operator in the United Kingdom, with a turnover in excess of GBP 120m. GB Railfreight is one of the fastest growing companies in the railway sector and transports goods for a wide range of customers.

For further information, please visit www.gbrailfreight.com.

About Biffa
Biffa is a leading UK-based integrated waste management business. The Group operates across the breadth of the waste management value chain, including the collection, treatment, processing and disposal of waste and recyclable materials, as well as related work in the production and sale of energy derived from waste and the sale of recovered commodities such as paper, glass, metals and plastic. Biffa’s customer base for these services includes local authorities (which includes the collection of waste from households), large corporates and SMEs, and purchasers of end-product commodities and energy. Across its operations, the Group managed approximately 3.3mT of waste in Fiscal Year 2017. The Group’s services are organised across four operating divisions: Industrial & Commercial; Municipal; Resource Recovery & Treatment (RR&T); and Energy. In Fiscal Year 2017, the Group’s total revenue was £990.4 million and its underlying EBITDA was £137.7 million. Biffa was successfully admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s main market for listed securities in October 2016 under the ticker “BIFF”.

For further information, please visit www.biffa.co.uk.

For media enquiries contact biffa@onlybeattie.com / 0161 870 9876

GB Railfreight’s Duncan Clark Joins Rail Freight Group’s Board of Directors

Posted on by plongf4

GB Railfreight’s Duncan Clark Joins Rail Freight Group’s Board of Directors

GB Railfreight (GBRf) announces that Duncan Clark, our Director of Strategic Development, has been appointed to the Rail Freight Group (RFG) Board of Directors.

Duncan has a wealth of experience of the rail freight sector. He has been with GBRf since 2015 and looks after GBRf’s network capacity, business performance, major projects, business implantation, business improvement, sales, sales strategy, and external communications. Before joining GBRf he spent twelve months as Programme Director in the Digital Railway at Network Rail and before that was NR’s General Manager of Freight.

On his new position, Duncan said:

“I am honoured to have been appointed to this position and there can be no more important time for the voice of the rail freight sector to be strongly represented. The next Control Period, which Network Rail is in the process of agreeing with the Government, could be pivotal for the future competitiveness of rail freight. The RFG must ensure that it puts across the views of the sector and that it achieves the outcomes that will be best for all who operate on the railways.”

GBRf’s Managing Director, John Smith, said:

“Duncan is a worthy addition to the board and will bring all his extensive experience and no-nonsense approach to the RFG so that the group is as effective as it can be. We are extremely lucky to have him here at GBRf, and it is great to see that the rest of the industry will soon be able to benefit from his insights.

RFG is the leading representative body for rail freight in the UK, with a membership which includes some of the biggest names in logistics along with many smaller companies, all of which contribute to the success of rail freight. They are playing a vital role in the development of CP6, the next Network Rail funding period which will run from 2019-24, and GBRf is pleased to be able to contribute to this work.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:
Westbourne Communications
020 3397 0100
GBRF@westbournecoms.com

About GB Railfreight
Founded in 1999 and headquartered in London, United Kingdom, GB Railfreight is the third largest rail freight operator in the United Kingdom, with a turnover in excess of GBP 120m. GB Railfreight is one of the fastest growing companies in the railway sector and transports goods for a wide range of customers.