Rail freight UK

GB Railfreight (GBRf) and Wascosa are today unveiling a new partnership to supply innovative modular wagons for UK Rail Infrastructure services. GBRf, one of the UK’s fastest growing transport companies, is joining forces with the Lucerne-based company Wascosa. Through this partnership, GB Railfreight and Wascosa will undertake a wagon leasing contract with UK railway network owner and infrastructure manager, Network Rail, who will lease these wagons for 10 years, in a move that will modernise their existing systems. Wascosa will own and provide a total of 570 wagons, commissioned to be built by Greenbrier Europe, a high-end freight railcar manufacturer. The role of GB Railfreight will be to maintain the condition of the new wagons, while also owning and building the modules to be positioned on the newly developed structures. Of the 570-strong fleet, there will be: 260 ‘Falcon’ box wagons, used for possession site work; 50 ‘Big Box’ wagons for bulk ballast transportation; and 260 ‘Flat Wagons’, a modular wagon developed by Wascosa for the carriage of track panels, sleepers, switches, rails and loose materials. The first of these wagons and superstructures will be in operation in late 2021. The partnership was made possible by GB Railfreight’s provision of a range of innovative superstructures, which will be mounted on the fleet of 260 container flats. This ground-breaking solution for Network Rail embodies GB Railfreight’s fundamental commitment to creating innovation as the new standard, and this recent collaboration positions both companies perfectly for future resilience and growth in the UK. Mark Wyborn who concluded the deal for GB Railfreight said:

“For GB Railfreight, being able to collaborate with the industry to offer a flexible wagon solution to Network Rail is crucial to be able to deal with supply chain demands for the future, especially during uncertain times. Equally as important is modernisation of infrastructure assets that will last for many years. “GB Railfreight are delighted to have partnered with Wascosa to lead the way and now in a position to offer innovative wagon solution to Network Rail that achieves both modernisation and future wagon supply chain demands.”

Commenting on the successful outcome Mick Tinsley, Wascosa’s representative in the UK, said:

“This is an exciting development for Wascosa. We have worked closely with Network Rail and our partners to jointly develop a modern, flexible wagon solution that will support the UK rail infrastructure maintenance and renewals programmes for many years to come. This provides us with a sound platform from which to grow further in the UK."