Freightliner Group

Freightliner is an intermodal and bulk haulage rail freight company operating in the UK and Continental Europe

Founded in 1965 in the UK, Freightliner has since expanded into Continental Europe. After a few years operating only intermodal services from ports like Southampton and Tilbury to Birmingham, Manchester and others, Freightliner began operating infrastructure trains for Network Rail in 1999. In the first ten years after privatisation Freightliner trebled the number of services it ran.

Freightliner and sister company Pentalver are owned by Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W). G&W owns or leases 116 freight railroads worldwide organised in eight locally managed operating regions with 7,300 employees serving 3,000 customers.

Freightliner is the leading UK intermodal rail freight operator for the transportation of maritime containers with a comprehensive network offering the complete logistics package or trunk rail moves.

Operating around a hundred services daily, Freightliner moves over 770,000 maritime containers per year from the deepsea ports of Felixstowe, Southampton and London Gateway to all major conurbations in the UK, offering total coverage of the UK network. The combined Pentalver/ Freightliner road fleet consists of more than 350 modern tractor units and over 900 trailers to compliment the rail operations, providing a total logistics solution to their customer base.

The bulk of the fleet is made up of Class 66 locomotives, which were introduced in 1998. In 2009 Freightliner introduced 19 Powerhaul locomotives; these have the same haulage capacity of 1,800 tonnes and run at the same speed. In 2018/19, Freightliner added eight Class 59 locomotives to their fleet for the Mendip Rail contract.

In 2019/20, Freightliner added 13 electric class 90 locomotives from Porterbrook Leasing to complement its existing ten locomotives. They operate using the 25k overhead line supply, reducing the dependency on diesel traction and contributing to making rail an even more sustainable and carbon-neutral mode for transporting freight. Rail freight is already producing 76 per cent las carbon per gross tonne mile than road freight, and Freightliner is the largest user of electric locomotives to haul freight. The expansion of the electric fleet helps to improve that footprint further. Some of the locomotives will replace the ageing class 86 fleet which will be retired from service until they can be overhauled and re-introduced as Freightliner expands its electrically hauled services.

In late 2021, 230 new Freightliner FFA-G wagons arrived in the UK from Poland, representing the next generation of energy efficient, 40ft intermodal wagons. The new FFA-G wagon is the culmination of two-and-a-half years of work with partners Greenbrier Europe and Wabtec Axiom Rail and is the latest contribution to Freightliner’s energy-saving strategy. Designed with fuel efficiency in mind, the FFA-G wagon is more than two tonnes lighter per platform than its nearest competitor, driving significantly less weight per train whilst maintaining industry safety standards. The modern low track force bogies ensure significantly reduced noise levels and minimise track damage.

Chief Financial Officer: Patrick Taylor

Chief Commercial Officer: Emma Dempsey

Address: 3rd Floor, 90 Whitfield Street, London W1T 4EZ

Tel: 03330 169545

Email: info@gwrr.co.uk

Visit: www.freightliner.co.uk