Stobart Rail Limited

Stobart Rail Limited (formerly W.A. Developments Ltd. and trading as Stobart Rail) is a railway maintenance and infrastructure engineering company in the United Kingdom. Stobart Rail comes under the Rail division of the Stobart Group.

Stobart Rail Limited
Private limited company
IndustryRailway maintenance and infrastructure engineering
Founded1993
FounderAndrew Tinkler
HeadquartersCarlisle, Cumbria, England
Area served
United Kingdom
Key people
Andrew Tinkler
(Chief Executive Officer)
ParentStobart Group
Websitewww.stobartrail.com

History

The original company

Stobart Rail was founded on 25 May 1993 by William Andrew Tinkler as W.A. Developments Civil Engineering in Cumbria, with an initial capital investment of £500. The company was involved in civil engineering and railway infrastructure project contracts. The company gained a contract with Railtrack (now Network Rail). The business was incorporated as W.A. Developments Ltd.[1] The company's original registered office was in Gosforth, Cumbria[2]

Acquisition of Eddie Stobart

W.A. Developments Ltd.'s parent company, WA Developments (International) Ltd (a company jointly owned by Andrew Tinkler and William Stobart), acquired Eddie Stobart Limited, the UK's largest haulage contractor, in February 2004. Following WA Developments' decision to merge Eddie Stobart Limited with the property and ports company the Westbury Property Fund on 15 August 2007 and to list it on the London Stock Exchange as the Stobart Group, W.A. Developments Ltd. initially remained within the ownership of WA Developments.[3]

Sale to the Stobart Group

On 10 March 2008, Stobart Group announced that it would be buying the original W.A. Developments Ltd. civil engineering and railway infrastructure business from WA Developments for £10 million in cash. Upon completion, W.A. Developments Ltd. changed its name to Stobart Rail Limited and W.A. Developments Civil Engineering was re-branded Stobart Rail.[4]

Operations
Stobart Pullman service in June 2008

Stobart Rail holds a Network Rail Principal Contractor's Licence and Rail Plant Operating Company Licence. Stobart Developments undertakes development projects and is delivering improvement works at a number of Stobart Group facilities, including constructing the London Southend Airport railway station.[5]

In February 2008, Stobart Rail commenced operating passenger charter services under the Stobart Pullman brand, having purchased Hertfordshire Rail Tours from the administrator of FM Rail.[6][7] Motive power and a set of Mark 3 carriages were leased from Direct Rail Services.[8] It ceased operating in July 2008.[9][10]

See also

References
  1. "PLC Board | Our Directors | About". Stobart Group. 23 May 2011. Archived from the original on 2 November 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2011.
  2. "Incorporation". Companies House. 25 May 1993. Retrieved 10 December 2019.
  3. "Eddie Stobart sells up". BBC. 15 October 2003. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  4. "An interview with Stobart Rail & Civils' managing director". Rail Staff. 12 April 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  5. "Airport rail station to open next week". Echo Newspapers. Stobart, not National Express, will employ the staff who man the station and meet passengers getting off the train
  6. Stobart Rail sets its sights on a passenger franchise as charter operation is rebranded Rail Express issue 141 February 2008 page 4
  7. Stobart launches its Pullman charter train Rail issue 586 27 February 2008 page 12
  8. DRS/Stobart launch new Pullam train Today's Railways UK issue 76 April 2008 page 74
  9. Stobart Group axe Pullman train after just five months Rail issue 597 30 July 2008 page 68
  10. Stobart Rail pulls the plug on loss-making Pullman operation Rail Express issue 147 August 2008 page 4
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.