with chiltern railways service at london marylebone overview main s united kingdom parent company nuclear decommissioning authority website http 1 2 direct rail services drs is a freight operating company created by british nuclear fuels limited in 1994 and in 2005 transferred to the nuclear decommissioning authority . it has since diversified into other freight operations and providing haulage for passenger services . drs is one of only two remaining publicly owned railway companies in the united kingdom the other being ni railways the passenger transport operator in northern ireland . contents 1 history 2 fleet details 2.1 current fleet 2.2 future fleet 3 references 4 external links history edit until 1994 the haulage of nuclear flask traffic had been handled by british rail . in 1994 british nuclear fuels limited decided to bring this operation in house . 1 a fleet of five class 20 3s were overhauled at brush traction loughborough . 2 in 1997 drs diversified when it commenced operating milk traffic from penrith to cricklewood . 3 4 in 1997 six class 37 6s were purchased from eurostar . 5 6 drs would later build up an extensive fleet of class 37 and 47s . in 1998 drs moved its base from sellafield into the disused carlisle kingmoor depot . 7 8 up until 1998 it only moved nuclear fuel rods from overseas for processing at sellafield . it now took over the movement of rods from uk nuclear power stations at heysham valley for wylfa bridgwater for hinkley point berkeley for oldbury hunterston torness seaton carew dungeness and sizewell . 9 in 2001 drs purchased some class 33s . 10 in 2002 it commenced running intermodal trains from grangemouth to the daventry international railfreight terminal using class 66 4s . it carries containers for both the malcolm group and asda . class 20 hauling a nuclear waste train the original and continuing core service in 2004 three class 87s were trialed but returned to their leasing company after six months . 11 12 ownership of drs was transferred from bnfl to the nuclear decommissioning authority when the nda was created on 1 april 2005 under the terms of the energy act 2004 . in 2006 drs commenced a new service the tesco express on behalf of eddie stobart in partnership with tesco the uk s largest food retailer to move containers from daventry north to mossend and inverness using a new dedicated low emission class 66 locomotive in eddie stobart livery 66411 eddie the engine . a daily service from grangemouth to inverness followed in 2009 with another class 66 in a promotional livery this time 66414 james the engine . the daventry scotland stobart contract transferred to db schenker in january 2010 along with the onward daily service to inverness though this reverted to drs operation in summer 2011 . 13 14 in march 2007 a second depot was opened at crewe gresty bridge on the site of disused wagon works . 15 16 in 2007 seven refurbished former virgin trains mark 3 carriages were refurbished at oxley depot . 17 18 19 in 2008 the mark 3 set was used to operate charter services under the stobart rail banner . 20 21 the stobart rail operation ceased in july 2008 . 22 from 2008 drs began to acquire class 57s . it now operates nine former freightliner 57 0s and 12 former virgin trains 57 3s . 23 24 in june 2009 drs commenced operating rescue locomotive duties on the great eastern main line for national express east anglia as well as hauling class 90 electric locomotives from norwich to great yarmouth on summer saturdays . 25 this included summer saturday wherry lines services . drs have periodically operated services on the wherry lines during periods of diesel multiple unit shortage . in october 2014 it commenced operating a two year contract to operate services on the wherry lines under contract to abellio greater anglia . 26 it was operated by top and tailed class 47s hauling mark 2s top and tail class 37s were introduced in mid 2015 . class 37s working cumbrian coast services at st bees from 30 november 2009 until 28 may 2010 drs ran a service on the cumbrian coast line between maryport and workington following a road bridge being destroyed by floods . 27 the trains were made up of class 37s class 47s and class 57s top and tailing drs mark 3 carriages . in april 2011 drs commenced a five year contract to provide motive power for the northern belle . 28 on 9 january 2012 a trial service was introduced for six weeks by the nuclear decommissioning authority for its workers with drs supplying a class 37 to haul four mark 2 carriages between carlisle and sellafield . 29 30 31 although the trial was reported to have been a success plans to introduce regular services from december 2012 did not materialize until may 2015 . to operate these services drs purchased a fleet of mark 2s and had these overhauled at eastleigh works . 32 33 34 in february 2014 drs took delivery of the first of 15 class 68s . 35 in october 2014 a further ten were ordered followed by another seven in july 2015 . 36 37 from december 2014 six commenced operating services for chiltern railways . 38 in april 2015 two class 68s commenced operating fife circle line services for abellio scotrail . in may 2015 drs commenced operating services on the cumbrian coast line under contract to northern rail using top and tail class 37s hauling mark 2s . 39 on 27 july 2015 one of the class 37s was replaced by a dbso . 40 on 12 september 2013 it was announced that drs would be the launch customer for the new vossloh euro dual dual mode freight locomotive by vossloh espa a. 41 on 8 january 2016 it was announced that drs would sell 12 locomotives 1 class 20 locomotive 20312 6 class 37 locomotives 37503 510 521 608 611 670 and 5 class 47 locomotives 47810 13 18 28 53 as well as 2 mark 2 coaches . 42 on 5 april 2016 a further batch of 6 class 68 locomotives 68020 25 have been delivered by vossloh . 43 fleet details edit current fleet edit direct rail services currently operate a total of 107 locomotives . 44 class image top speed number loco numbers mph km h 20 75 121 8 20301 305 308 309 312 37 80 130 33 37038 059 069 194 218 259 401 3 405 407 409 413 419 422 25 37601 7 609 10 612 667 682 688 703 716 47 75 121 1 47813 57 75 95 121 153 21 57002 4 007 12 301 12 66 75 121 19 66301 5 421 34 68 100 160 25 68001 25 future fleet edit direct rail services is due to receive a further 17 locomotives . 88001 10 will be delivered from the second half of 2016 followed by 68026 32 . class image top speed number loco numbers mph km h class 68 100 160 7 68026 32 under construction class 88 100 160 10 88001 10 under construction references edit rfs 20s in main line deal rail issue 238 26 october 1994 page 9 nuclear power rail issue 263 11 october 1995 page 6 britain s first piggback mik train starts running rail issue 308 2 july 1997 page 7 drs wins milk traffic haulage contract rail express issue 15 august 1997 page 6 direct rail services buys eurostar locomotives and doubles its fleet rail issue 308 2 july 1997 page 6 direct rail services traction fleet expands to 23 locos the railway magazine issue 1157 september 1997 page 63 direct rail services to lease carlisle kingmoor diesel depot rail express issue 21 february 1998 page 6 drs moves to carlisle depot rail issue 360 30 june 1999 page 12 drs take over nuclear traffic rail express issue 29 october 1998 page 6 drs treatment for a crompton rail express issue 62 july 2001 page 9 drs to use class 87s on freight the railway magazine issue 1244 december 2004 page 65 drs hands back class 87s the railway magazine issue 1252 august 2005 page 74 blow for drs as dbs wins stobart contract the railway magazine issue 1302 october 2009 page 8 drs wins back tesco train the railway magazine issue 1341 january 2013 page 86 drs opens crewe gresty bridge loco depot rail express issue 132 may 2007 page 5 thornaby to close but new drs depot opens the railway magazine issue 1274 june 2007 page 8 direct rail services buys passenger coach rake for possible charter use rail express issue 127 december 2006 page 4 drs unveils refurbished mark 3s today s railways issue 69 september 2007 page 65 drs launches luxury charter set the railway magazine issue 1277 september 2007 page 71 drs stobart launch new pullam train today s railways issue 76 april 2008 page 74 stobart launches new charter operation the railway magazine issue 1284 april 2008 page 67 stobart pulls plug on charter operation today s railways issue 81 september 2008 page 74 two more class 57s for drs the railway magazine issue 1289 september 2008 page 82 remaining class 57 3s snapped up by drs and west coast co the railway magazine issue 1343 march 2013 page 80 drs launches thunderbird contract the railway magazine issue 1300 august 2009 page 75 drs coaches in use on ga loco hauled today s railways issue 154 october 2014 page 63 free cumbria floods train service to finish next week news and star carlisle 21 may 2010 direct rail services to operate northern belle the railway magazine issue 1323 july 2011 page 73 loco hauled cumbrian coast commuter service rail.co.uk january 2012 drs begins its own service to ferry workers to sellafield and return rail express issue 189 february 2012 page 7 sellafield workers train launched the railway magazine issue 1331 march 2012 page 11 overhauled drs mk2s emerge from eastleigh rail express issue 204 may 2013 page 51 further drs coaches emerge from eastleigh rail express issue 207 august 2013 page 53 drs launches refurbished mark 2s today s railways issue 142 october 2013 page 68 first direct rail services 68 delivered to uk rail issue 741 5 february 2014 page 17 10 more 68s for drs modern railways issue 793 october 2014 page 18 drs orders seven more class 68s the railway magazine issue 1373 august 2015 page 6 chiltern signs deal for class 68s today s railways issue 150 june 2014 page 60 loco hauled services to return to the cumbrian coast . railway herald . 8 january 2015 . retrieved 9 january 2015 . cumbrian top and tail 37s phased out rail issue 780 5 august 2015 page 22 drs orders 10 electro diesel locomotives from vossloh railway gazette international 12 september 2013 http www.directrailservices.com news articles 2016 01 08 sale of surplus assets http www.mainlinediesels.net index.php nav 1000178 & lang en & id 8745 & action shownews . vwajtyavvqo http www.railfaneurope.net list uk uk drs.html external links edit media related to direct rail services at wikimedia commons direct rail services v t e rail freight in great britain current operators colas rail db cargo uk direct rail services europorte channel freightliner group gb railfreight mendip rail post privatisation defunct advenza freight fastline ex br shadow franchises loadhaul mainline freight transrail freight br sectors and divisions railfreight trainload freight rail express systems railfreight distribution freightliner speedlink red star parcels major terminals daventry dollands moor trafford park see also channel tunnel retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title direct rail services & oldid 742554943 categories government owned companies of the united kingdomnuclear technology in the united kingdomrailway companies established in 1995rail transport in cumbriarail freight companies in the united kingdom1995 establishments in englandhidden categories commons category with page