Eversholt was established in March 1994 and was promptly privatised one year later via a £580 million management buyout. During February 1997, it was acquired by the Midland Bank and briefly renamed Forward Trust, and again renamed HSBC Rail. The company has primarily operated within the UK market, but between 2000 and 2009, HSBC Rail was also active on the European leasing market as well, before selling off this arm of the business to rival leasing firm Beacon Rail.
As HSBC Rail, it was involved in the supply of 28 British Rail Class 395 high speed train sets from Hitachi Europe in a £250million contract. The company also submitted an unsolicited response to the Intercity Express Programme, which was dismissed. In January 2010, HSBC Rail was rebranded back to the Eversholt Rail Group before being sold onto a consortium of private finance companies. It changed hands again during January 2015, being bought by a consortium of CK Hutchison Holdings and Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings. During the 2010s, the company focused on either selling or retrofitting aging elements of its rolling stock fleet.
History
Eversholt Rail Group was established on 21 March 1994 as a subsidiary of British Rail in preparation for the privatisation of British Rail.[1][2] It was named after Eversholt Street in London near Euston station in which British Rail's offices were located.[3] During November 1995, British Rail sold its subsidiary via a management buyout in exchange for £580 million; this price was subsequently criticised for being undervalued.[4][5][6]
In February 1997, Eversholt was acquired by the Midland Bank at a reported cost of £726.5 million. At this time, its portfolio consisted of 4,000 electric locomotives and passenger multiple units.[6][7] One year later, Eversholt was renamed Forward Trust.[8] During November 1999, it was again renamed, this time to HSBC Rail, as part of a rebranding by parent company HSBC.[9]
In 2000, HSBC Rail leased its first rolling stock outside of the United Kingdom via a financing arrangement on two EMD JT42CWRs for Swedish freight operator TGOJ Trafik.[10] However, during 2009, the company ultimately opted to entirely withdraw from the European market; to this end, it sold its fleet of twenty EMD JT42CWR locomotives to Beacon Rail.[11]
During June 2005, a contract valued at £250million was signed with Hitachi Europe to supply 28 British Rail Class 395 high speed train sets, with HSBC Rail acting as the financier.[12] This contract was also the first ever British order for a Japanese train; Hitachi reportedly viewed the deal as a key opportunity to establish itself in the UK market.[13][14] HSBC Rail also involved itself in a consortium providing maintenance services, referred to as 'DEPCO', to the fleet; other members were Fitzpatrick Contractors Ltd (construction), RPS Burks Green (architects/civil engineers), EMCOR UK (mechanical and electrical plant) and GrantRail (trackwork).[15][16]
In January 2010, HSBC Rail was rebranded back to the Eversholt Rail Group.[17][18] During November 2010, Eversholt was sold to a consortium of 3i, Morgan Stanley and Star Capital Partners.[19]
During the early 2010s, in response to the Intercity Express Programme led by Britain's Department for Transport, Eversholt issued its own counter-proposal for the renewal of rolling stock on the East Coast Main Line.[citation needed] This option, which would have reportedly consisted of new locomotives and carriages, was to be considerably cheaper than the Class 800, a Hitachi-built high speed multiple unit train. However, Eversholt was ultimately unable to convince the DfT to pursue their solution.[citation needed]
In addition to the acquisition of new rolling stock, Eversholt has been a keen advocate of upgrading existing units as well. Its fleet of Class 321 electric multiple units has been subject to numerous extensive alterations and retrofits; in December 2013, it rebuilt one as a demonstrator for a proposed upgrade.[20] In May 2018, plans were announced to convert some Class 321s with Alstom hydrogen cells, using the acronym HMU (hydrogen multiple unit) and re-designated Class 600.[21][22] A number of this class of train will be converted to hydrogen power and operational by 2024.[21][23] The first concept of this conversion, dubbed "Breeze", was revealed by Alstom and Eversholt Rail in January 2019.[24] In March 2021, Eversholt announced the conversion of one for use as a parcels train.[25]
In January 2015, Eversholt was purchased by a consortium of CK Hutchison Holdings and Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings in exchange for a reported £2 billion.[26] At this time, it controlled roughly 28 percent of passenger trains within the UK market, thus the deal was subject to review by the European Commission.[27] In March 2015, Eversholt announced the sale of its 920 wagon fleet to NACCO Industries.[28]
While responsibility for the Class 365 EMUs was transferred to Eversholt during the privatisation process,[2] due to the British Railways Board having leased rather than purchased these units, via a clause in the original procurement contract, ownership of the remaining 40 sets passed to the Department for Transport subsidiary Train Fleet (2019) Limited in July 2019,[29] after it was obliged to pay out the leases to the Royal Bank of Scotland in the event that the trains were not wanted.[30][31] In July 2021, all were sold back to Eversholt after the termination of their leases with Govia Thameslink Railway was agreed.[32]
By May 2022, Eversholt Rail Group owned 3,246 vehicles, of which 2,721 are electric-powered.[33]
Initial fleet
The fleet Eversholt Rail Group inherited from British Rail in 1994 comprised:[2]
In December 2023 Eversholt Rail ordered three Pre-Series Revolution VLR (RVLR) battery-only vehicles, with lineside fast charging, from TDI, for passenger trials and service. They will be built from 2024 and are expected to be ready for passenger operation in 2026. They will be based on the RVLR Demonstrator tested at Ironbridge.[34][35] A report says they will be 18.9m (62ft) long, formed with composite carbon fibre and aluminium panels and have 56 seats and a maximum speed of 104km/h (65mph),[36] which is the same as the demonstrator car, which had a steel ladder chassis, was 2.8m (9ft 2in) wide, 3.8m (12ft) high and had four single leaf sliding plug doors.[37]
Related Research Articles
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The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, the process was largely completed by 1997. The deregulation of the industry was in part motivated by the enactment of EU Directive 91/440 in 1991, which aimed to create a more efficient railway network by creating greater competition.
Porterbrook is a British rolling stock company (ROSCO), created as part of the privatisation of British Rail. Together with Angel Trains and Eversholt Rail Group, it is one of the three original ROSCOs.
The British Rail Class 365 Networker Express was a class of dual-voltage electric multiple unit passenger train built by ABB at Holgate Road Carriage Works in 1994 and 1995.
The InterCity 225 is an electric push-pull high speed train in the United Kingdom, comprising a Class 91 electric locomotive, nine Mark 4 coaches and a Driving Van Trailer (DVT). The Class 91 locomotives were built by British Rail Engineering Limited's Crewe Works as a spin-off from the Advanced Passenger Train project, which was abandoned during the 1980s, whilst the coaches and DVT were constructed by Metro-Cammell in Birmingham and Breda in Italy, again borrowing heavily from the Advanced Passenger Train. The trains were designed to operate at up to 140 mph (225 km/h) in regular service, but are limited to 125 mph (200 km/h) principally due to a lack of cab signalling and the limitations of the current overhead line equipment. They were introduced into service between 1989 and 1991 for intercity services on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) from London King's Cross to Leeds, York and Edinburgh.
The British Rail Class 321 is a class of electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger train built by British Rail Engineering Limited's York Carriage Works in three batches between 1988 and 1991 for Network SouthEast and Regional Railways. The class uses alternating current (AC) overhead electrification. The design was successful and led to the development of the similar Class 320 and Class 322.
The British Rail Class 465 Networker is a class of 147 electric multiple units built by Metro-Cammell, British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) and ABB Rail between 1991 and 1994. Originally operated by Network South East, these units are now run by Southeastern.
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