Freightliner Group

rdf:langString Freightliner Group

rdf:langString Freightliner Group Limited

rdf:langString Freightliner Group Limited

rdf:langString Australia

rdf:langString Europe

rdf:langString Middle East

rdf:langString Intermodal, Heavy Haul, Maintenance

rdf:langString Eddie Aston

rdf:langString England

rdf:langString Freightliner New Logo 2018.png

rdf:langString Management

rdf:langString Bulk freight, Intermodal freight transport and logistics

rdf:langString Freightliner Group is a rail freight and logistics company headquartered in the United Kingdom. It is presently a wholly owned subsidiary of the American holding company Genesee & Wyoming. It was originally created as Freightliner Ltd as a British government-owned company as per the Transport Act 1968. From its onset, Freightliner was focused on the haulage of international traffic, thus came to centre its activities around Britain's sea ports, often building new multimodal freight depots adjacent to such locations to better capture this business. During the late 1970s, it was reorganised under British Rail, and became a part of its Railfreight Distribution subsidiary during the late 1980s. Work to expand the loading gauge on routes such as the East Coast Main Line were undertaken, allowing trains hauling larger containers to be routes, were conducted around this time. Numerous domestic depots previously operated by Freightliner were closed during the 1990s in preparation for the Privatisation of British Rail that same decade. As a consequence of the privatisation initiative, the business unit was reorganised as Freightliner Limited; on 25 May 1996, it was privatised and bought out through a management buyout, supported by 3i and Electra Private Equity, in exchange for £5.39M. Freightliner quickly set about modernising and expanding its locomotive fleet, ordering both Class 57 (rebuilt Class 47s) and new-build Class 66s locomotives to fulfill this role. During 1999, it established the Heavy Haul business; five years later, the Logico service was also launched. By 2014, Freightliner Limited had become the largest intermodal freight transport operator in the United Kingdom, as well as the second largest freight operating company in the country by revenue, behind DB Cargo UK. It had also expanded its operations into various other countries, including Australia, the Netherlands and Poland. On 13 June 2008, Freightliner Group was purchased by Railinvest Holding Company Limited, a subsidiary of Arcapita Bank of Bahrain. During February 2015, Freightliner was acquired by the American company Genesee & Wyoming.