company . for other uses see freightliner disambiguation . freightliner group type rail industry freight industry rail freight predecessor british rail founded 1995 headquarters london united kingdom area served europe australia middle east key people russell mears ceo services bulk freight & intermodal logistics revenue 785 million 1 number of employees 2 500 2 parent genesee & wyoming 95 % management 5 % divisions intermodal heavy haul maintenance poland australia ers website www.freightliner.co.uk locomotive and wagons at the leeds vehicle maintenance facility freightliner group is a rail freight and logistics company formed in the united kingdom in 1995 and now having expanded into australia the netherlands and poland . freightliner limited is the largest intermodal freight transport operator in the united kingdom . 3 freightliner group is the second largest freight operating company in the uk by revenue behind db cargo uk . 4 it is a subsidiary of genesee & wyoming . contents 1 history 1.1 british rail 1.2 privatisation 1.3 post privatisation 2 freightliner group subsidiaries 3 operations 3.1 united kingdom 3.2 poland 3.3 australia 3.4 netherlands 4 fleet 4.1 united kingdom 4.2 poland 4.3 australia 5 fleet detail 5.1 united kingdom 5.2 poland 5.3 australia 5.4 netherlands 6 gallery 7 references 8 further reading 9 external links history edit british rail edit 47376 in original freightliner livery . this locomotive was used to launch the company in 1995 being named freightliner 1995 . it is now preserved on the gloucestershire warwickshire railway and is seen at toddington on 25 september 2005 the origins of the freightliner concept go back to the mid 1960s when as part of its modernisation and rationalisation programme british rail began moving freight using shipping containers on flat wagons between a series of dedicated inland terminals using gantry cranes for transshipment between road and rail . 5 freightliner s first single shipper train was operated on 20 august 1968 hauling specially designed 30 foot containers carrying parts for ford escort cars that were destined for assembly in plants on the european mainland . 6 although initially intended for domestic freight this was soon overtaken by freight between deep sea ports such as southampton maritime and inland distribution terminals associated with centres of manufacturing or population such as birmingham lawley street . dudley freightliner terminal 10 miles 16 km from birmingham on the site of the old railway station was opened in october 1967 . this proved to be one of the most profitable such terminals in the country while the birmingham terminal was ultimately one of the least financially viable . yet by 1981 freightliner was planning to close dudley and transfer its function to birmingham in order to boost the latter s fortunes . however the dudley terminal was given a reprieve in 1983 only for closure plans to re emerge in 1986 . it finally closed in 1989 . 7 privatisation edit as part of the privatisation of british rail the freightliner business unit had its assets transferred into a new company freightliner 1995 limited in preparation for sale . 8 on 25 may 1996 freightliner was purchased by a management buyout backed by 3i and electra private equity . 9 in 1999 freightliner set up its heavy haul business . in march 2004 freightliner launched logico providing short term or one off spaces on intermodal trains . in 2007 freightliner commenced operations in poland . post privatisation edit on 13 june 2008 freightliner group was purchased by railinvest holding company limited 10 a subsidiary of arcapita bank of bahrain . 11 12 in june 2009 freightliner commenced operations in australia . in february 2015 freightliner was sold by arcapita bank to genesee & wyoming . under the deal genesee & wyoming purchased a 95 % shareholding which will increase to 100 % by 2020 . 13 on 12 november 2015 british rail class 47 no. 47830 d1645 which is operated by freightliner was named beeching s legacy to mark 50 years since the first container train ran under british rail . 14 freightliner group subsidiaries edit freightliner group has the following subsidiaries 15 freightliner ltd freightliner heavy haul freightliner maintenance freightliner poland and germany ers railways freightliner australia freightliner middle east operations edit united kingdom edit when freightliner was privatised in 1996 it only operated intermodal container services . these ran from ports including felixstowe southampton and tilbury to terminals such as birmingham trafford park in manchester ashton gate in bristol and wentlooge newport south wales . the network has been expanded with additional destinations added . 16 freightliner also operate an extensive road distribution network with 300 road vehicles . in 1999 freightliner set up heavy haul initially operating railway infrastructure trains for network rail moving ballast rails etc. before moving into other bulk loads including aggregates cement coal petroleum scrap metal and waste . initially run as a division of freightliner limited in 2001 operations were transferred to a new subsidiary freightliner heavy haul limited . 17 in april 2006 freightliner maintenance limited was established as a separate entity dedicated to the repair and maintenance of traction and rolling stock . 18 poland edit freightliner pl 66004 awaits its next duty at the railway station in z ot w poland on 30 september 2008 in 2006 freightliner expanded its operations into poland . a subsidiary company freightliner pl sp . z o.o. was established to bid for contracts hauling coal traffic . 19 the first contract was for coal transport from lubelski w giel bogdanka sa near bogdanka bogdanka lublin coal mine to kozienice power station . the service began in september 2007 . 20 21 most of freightliner pl s services operate on the gda sk to warsaw corridor and in southern poland . in february 2015 freightliner pl signed a 17 5m contract to lease five newag gliwice 5mw electric six axle e6dcf dragon locomotives from ing lease . with each equipped with a 520kw diesel engine for last mile operation they are scheduled to be delivered from may to july 2016 . 22 australia edit freightliner began exploring opportunities in the australian rail market with freightliner australia pty ltd established by april 2007 . by june 2008 freightliner australia had been accredited as a rail operator in the state of new south wales 23 and by september 2009 also had accreditation in queensland and western australia . in june 2009 freightliner australia commenced operating containerised cotton services from wee waa to port botany . 24 25 in september 2009 freightliner australia signed a 10 year deal with xstrata to haul export coal from the hunter valley to newcastle commencing in late 2010 . 26 under the deal xstrata own the rolling stock with freightliner australia providing the engineering logistics maintenance and operational support . 27 in may 2012 freightliner australia commenced operating a warren to port botany service . netherlands edit main article european rail shuttle b.v. in 2013 freightliner bought netherlands based intermodal container operator european rail shuttle b.v. from maersk line . 28 fleet edit united kingdom edit freightliner inherited a fleet of ageing class 47 diesel locomotives and class 86 and class 90 electric locomotives from british rail . in 1997 freightliner placed an order for six class 57 locomotives . these were rebuilt by brush traction at loughborough from class 47s fitted with a refurbished emd engine and a reconditioned alternator improving reliability and performance . the first was delivered in july 1998 . after an evaluation period freightliner was sufficiently impressed to order a further six in june 1999 . 29 various orders were placed for class 66s with 111 eventually delivered . these replaced all of the class 47s by 2004 and the class 57s by 2008 . freightliner also leased some class 66s formerly operated by direct rail services . in november 2007 freightliner announced an order for 30 class 70s under a project called project genesis . 30 the first two were delivered in november 2009 . these have released a number of class 66s with five going to colas rail 13 to freightliner poland and four to gb railfreight . 31 poland edit freightliner pl ordered seven emd class 66s as well as 432 greenbrier eamnoss type coal hopper wagons . these have been supplemented by an emd class 66 formerly used by h fen und g terverkehr k ln and 12 class 66s transferred from freightliner s uk operations . a 13th was sent from the uk in october 2012 . these units underwent various modifications to allow them to operate on the polish network . 32 australia edit freightliner australia commenced operations using hired in gl class locomotives from chicago freight car leasing australia . after a longer term lease was agreed two were repainted into freightliner livery in september 2010 . 33 the warren service that commenced in may 2012 also uses locomotives hired from cfcla . the xstrata coal contract is operated by xrn class locomotives that are owned by the customer . 34 35 wagon types are pheh and phyh for the coal traffic and cqby cqfy and cqyy on the grain traffic . 36 in january 2015 two g class locomotives were purchased . 37 fleet detail edit united kingdom edit class type introduced wheel arr . in traffic numbers class 08 diesel shunter 1953 0 6 0 10 08077 530 531 575 585 624 691 764 785 891 class 66 diesel 1999 co co 7 class 66 4 66413 66416 418 420 94 class 66 5 66501 520 522 581 585 587 599 19 class 66 6 66601 607 610 613 623 7 class 66 9 66951 957 class 70 diesel 2009 co co 19 70001 011 013 020 class 86 electric 1965 bo bo 16 class 86 6 86604 605 607 610 612 614 622 627 628 632 637 639 class 90 electric 1987 bo bo 10 90016 041 049 poland edit class type introduced wheel arr . in traffic numbers emd series 66 diesel 2006 07 co co 13 66008 011 013 015 & 66601 006 38 newag dragon e6dcf electric diesel last mile slave 2016 co co 5 australia edit class type introduced wheel arr in traffic numbers gl class diesel 1971 72 remanufactured 2004 co co 2 gl111 112 xrn class diesel 2010 12 co co 30 xrn001 030 g class diesel 1988 co co 2 g533 g535 netherlands edit class type introduced wheel arr . in traffic numbers notes vossloh g1206 diesel bo bo 3 shunting and local operations vossloh g 2000 diesel bo bo 1 shunting and local operations emd class 66 diesel co co withdrawn lease ended br182 siemens es 64 u2 electric bo bo 1 br185 bombardier traxx electric bo bo 2 br189 siemens es 64 f4 electric bo bo 12 gallery edit a class 47 in the livery inherited from british rail at banbury in 2001 57012 freightliner envoy at ipswich on 31 january 2004 66534 oocl express in the freightliner livery introduced in 1998 at virginia water in april 2004 66605 with freightliner 40 1965 2005 at dundee on 6 june 2007 86613 and 86610 at ipswich on 14 february 2004 70001 leaves clay cross tunnel working 0z70 lawley street leeds midland road the freightliner maintenance depot at leeds midland road . references edit g & w agrees to buy freightliner group accessed 25 feb 2015 careers accessed 1 sep 2015 freight on rail members accessed 30 april 2014 britain s railways today freight british railways board freightliner brochure 1965 pdf . fords run first company freightliner . modern railways . shepperton middlesex ian allan ltd. xxiv 241 551 . october 1968 . 1 companies house extract company no 3118392 freightliner 1995 limited secretary of state for transport publication 27 november 1996 . companies house extract company no 6522978 railinvest holding company limited freightliner acquired by arcapita . 13 june 2008 . electra priv equity elta final results . bloomberg . 13 june 2008 . genesee & wyoming inc