Beacon Rail

Beacon Rail

Predecessor	Allco Finance Group
Founded	January 2009
Founder	Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group
Headquarters	London , England[1]
Area served	Europe United Kingdom
Products	Rolling stock leasing
Owner	JPMorgan Chase[2]
Website	www.beaconrail.com

GBRf Class 66 in Beacon Rail livery, working at Arcow Quarry siding

Beacon Rail is a rolling stock company (ROSCO) based in the United Kingdom. Its primary business is the leasing of locomotives and rolling stock to various train operating companies (TOCs).

The company originated within Allco Finance Group's European rolling stock leasing business, which was acquired by the Japanese firm Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group and rebranded as Beacon Rail shortly thereafter. Initially operating a relatively small fleet, it quickly moved to acquire new rail vehicles, such as the Class 68 and the Class 88, along with the buying out of competing firms such as HSBC Rail and Ascendos Rail Leasing. In 2017, Beacon Rail was purchased by the multinational investment group JPMorgan Chase; at this point, the company had almost 200 locomotives in its inventory. Rolling stock deals with other companies have continued, such as with Colas Rail, Stadler Rail, and the Clayton Equipment Company

History

In May 2008, Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group purchased the European rolling stock leasing business of the Australian services entity Allco Finance Group.^[3][4][5] In January 2009, the entity was rebranded as Beacon Rail.^[1] Its initial fleet comprised 15 Class 66 locomotives (which were typically leased to Fastline and Freightliner), 12 Bombardier Traxx locomotives, and 15 coal wagons.^[6][7]

During early 2009, in coordination with the British train operating company Direct Rail Services (DRS), Beacon Rail approached the Swiss manufacturer Stadler Rail to explore the construction of a bespoke locomotive to meet DRS's needs. The locomotive, which was based upon its existing Eurolight platform, became the Class 68.^[8] From 2014, across multiple batches, a total of 32 locomotives would be delivered for mixed traffic operations,^[9][10][11] largely with DRS, or sub-leased by DRS to other operators.^[12][13] Beacon Rail also acquired ten Class 88 electro-diesel locomotives for DRS, which had a high degree of commonality with the preceding Class 68 (70 percent of all components are shared).^[14][15]

In 2009, Beacon Rail purchased HSBC Rail's European business along with its 20 EMD JT42CWR locomotives.^[16] In 2012, it purchased its first passenger stock via a deal for 20 Class 313s that it leased to Southern, these multiple units had been acquired from Eversholt Rail Group.^[17] In 2014, Mitsubishi sold Beacon Rail to Pamplona Capital Management.^[18][19] In 2016, Ascendos Rail Leasing was purchased.^[20][21]

The firm also expanded its inventory of carriages; by 2016, 67 double-deck coaches were in operation in Denmark.^[22] That same year, Beacon Rail, in coordination with TransPennine Express (TPE) and Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF), announced plans to acquire 66 Mark 5A coaches for TPE's services, to be hauled by Beacon-owned Class 68 locomotives leased from DRS.^[23][24]

In 2017, Beacon Rail was purchased by the multinational investment group JPMorgan Chase. At the time of its acquisition, the company's portfolio had grown to include 190 locomotives, 944 freight wagons and 20 passenger trains.^[2][25] Shortly after, 352 Class 220 and 221 diesel multiple units were purchased from subsidiaries of Lloyds Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland.^[26][27] In 2018, 67 locomotives were purchased from Colas Rail.^[28][29] In July 2020, the company launched its new branding, trading simply as Beacon.^[30]

Into the 2020s, the company expanded its investment in multi-fueled locomotives. In January 2021, Rail Operations Group (ROG), in coordination with Beacon Rail, confirmed their order of 30 Class 93 Tri-mode locomotives.^[31][32] Later that same year, it was announced that Beacon Rail would purchase 15 CBD90 battery locos from the Clayton Equipment Company.^{[33][full citation needed]} During April 2022, GB Railfreight and Stadler announced that an order for 30 Class 99 bi-mode heavy freight locomotives had been placed with the latter.^[34]

In February 2023 Beacon Rail finalized the purchase via auction of 12 BB27300 series locomotives from the SNCF Transilien fleet.^[35]

References

1. "Beacon Rail Leasing Limited, Company number: 06763342". gov.uk. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
2. "Pomplona sells Beacon Rail Leasing to JP Morgan". International Railway Journal. May 2017. p. 16.
3. "BTMU buys Allco Finance". Rail Magazine. No. 592. 22 May 2008. p. 65.
4. "Allco taken over". Today's Railways Europe. No. 150. June 2008. p. 12.
5. "Leasing firm sells European arm". Railway Gazette International. No. June 2008. p. 356.
6. "New leasing company launched". International Railway Journal. February 2009. p. 7.
7. "Beacon Rail launched". Today's Railways Europe. No. 159. March 2009. p. 7.
8. "Ready for the '88' revolution". Rail Magazine. 19 December 2016.
9. Johnson, Marc (1 April 2014). "Sleek lines". The Rail Engineer.
10. Barrow, Keith (12 September 2014). "DRS orders more Vossloh locomotives". International Railway Journal.
11. "UK and Italian operators order Vossloh locomotives". Railway Gazette International. 27 July 2015. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
12. "Chiltern leases six Class 68 locos for Mainline services in £15m deal". Rail Technology Magazine. Manchester: Cognitive Publishing. 15 April 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
13. Clinnick, Richard (1 March 2017). "New-build DRS Class 68s to operate TPE's Mk 5 rakes". Rail Magazine. Peterborough. Retrieved 14 May 2022 – via Press Reader.
14. "Beacon Rail and DRS order dual-mode locos". Modern Railways. 12 September 2013.
15. Briginshaw, David (25 September 2014). "Electro-diesel locomotive debuts at InnoTrans". International Railway Journal. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
16. "HSBC Rail pulls out of Europe". Today's Railways Europe. No. 161. May 2009. p. 10.
17. "Second Generation EMUs and Electrostar Update". Modern Locomotives Illustrated. No. 233. October 2018. p. 16.
18. "New owner for Beacon Rail". Rail Magazine. No. 748. 14 May 2014. p. 12.
19. "Pamplona buys Beacon Rail". Railway Gazette International. No. June 2014. p. 12.
20. "Beacon buys Ascendos". The Railway Magazine. No. 1383. June 2016. p. 96.
21. "Ascendos sold to Beacon". Today's Railways Europe. No. 247. July 2016. p. 7.
22. "Beacon acquires rolling stock firm". Rail Magazine. 27 June 2016.
23. Clinnick, Richard (25 April 2018). "Testing...testing...". Rail Magazine. No. 851. Peterborough: Bauer Media. p. 62. ISSN 0953-4563.
24. "First TransPennine Express Mk 5As arrive in UK". Rail Magazine. 29 May 2018. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
25. "JP Morgan buys Beacon". Modern Railways. No. 825. June 2017. p. 88.
26. "Beacon Rail buys Voyager DEMU fleet". Railway Gazette International. 24 July 2017. Archived from the original on 24 July 2017.
27. "Beacon Rail acquires Voyager fleet". Today's Railways UK. No. 189. September 2017. p. 71.
28. "Beacon Rail buys Colas fleet". Railway Gazette International. 20 December 2018. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019.
29. "Colas sells locos to Beacon Rail". Rail Express. No. 273. February 2019. p. 9.
30. "Case Study: Transforming Beacon Rail". fellowship.agency. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
31. Clinnick, Richard (14 January 2021). "Rail Operations (UK) Ltd orders Class 93 tri-modes". Rail Magazine. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
32. Devereux, Nigel (31 December 2018). "Rail Operations Group and Stadler in Tri-Mode Loco Plan". The Railway Magazine.
33. "Clayton hybrid locos to become Class 18". The Railway Magazine. March 2021.
34. "GB Raifreight and Beacon Rail order 30 Stadler Eurodual locomotives". Rail Journal. 29 April 2022.
35. (in French)https://presse.iledefrance-mobilites.fr/12-locomotives-franciliennes-vendues-aux-encheres/

External links

• Official website