DB Schenker wins rail contract renewal with Royal Mail

Rail freight company DB Schenker has said it has won a new contract with Royal Mail. Doncaster-based subsidiary DB Schenker Rail UK has been operating the contract since 2010, but has now won a new three-year deal beginning this June.

It will see the company operating eight daily services on two north-south rail routes across the UK — six services on the West Coast Main Line and two on the East Coast Main Line.

DB Schenker, one of the UK’s largest rail freight operators running more than 5,000 trains each week, will also be maintaining Royal Mail’s fleet of 15 Class 325 mail trains under the deal.

The company had been working since September 2014 to increase the carrying capacity of Royal Mail’s Class 325 units.

Reconfiguring the trains allowed a 16% increase in capacity, the firm said.

Mark Fernandez, acting head of sales at DB Schenker Rail UK, said his firm had won the contract renewal thanks to its flexible and sustainable solutions.

“We have enjoyed an excellent collaborative working relationship with the Royal Mail on the current contract, which includes consistently reliable delivery and considerable improvements in their Class 325 performance since we took over the locomotive maintenance,” he said.

David Hawkins, Royal Mail’s head of contract operations, said the postal service’s rail network has been improving year on year, which supported the continuation of the relationship with DB Schenker.

“We are currently part-way through a major refit programme and we are seeing the benefit of working with a partner that provides both operational solutions and engineering expertise,” he said.

DB Schenker Rail UK is owned by Germany’s national rail company Deutsche Bahn, which bought the company known at the time as the English, Welsh and Scottish Railway in 2007.