Porterbrook news

News about railway rolling stock leasing company Porterbrook.

  • EMR Class 170 DMU refurbished (Photo EMR) (4)
    Rail Business UK

    East Midlands Railway Class 170 DMU refurbished

    18 April 2025

    UK: East Midlands Railway has unveiled the first of 44 Class 170 regional diesel multiple-units which are to be refurbished to ‘echo the sleek aesthetic’ of the Hitachi Class 810 Aurora inter-city trainsets which are to enter service later this year.

  • CrossCountry refurbished Class 170 DMU at Derby (Photo CrossCountry, David Jones)
    Rail Business UK

    CrossCountry Class 170 DMUs evolve

    6 March 2025

    UK: Arriva TrainCare’s Crewe depot has completed work on the first of 29 Class 170 diesel multiple-units operated by CrossCountry which are to be refurbished by 2028. The multi-million pound programme has been funded by leasing company Porterbrook. The scope includes fitting the DMUs originally built ...

  • Long Marston Upgrade 2
    Rail Business UK

    Electrification underway at Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre

    26 February 2025

    UK: Work is now underway to install 3·5 km of 25 kV 50 Hz electrified track at rolling stock leasing and management company Porterbrook’s Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre. The test loop will enable electric trains to be tested at up to 75 km/h. There will ...

  • Class 376 refreshed exterior_cropped
    Rail Business UK

    Southeastern Class 376 EMU fleet to get mid-life refresh

    8 January 2025

    UK: Contracts have been awarded for a mid-life refresh of the Class 376 electric multiple-units used on Southeastern’s London suburban services since 2004. The work is be undertaken in collaboration with leasing company Eversholt Rail and Alstom, the successor to Bombardier Transportation which originally built the ...

  • Porterbook GBRf Zephir LOK 16.300 depot shunters
    Rail Business UK

    Low-emission depot shunters in services at steel works

    24 December 2024

    UK: GB Railfreight has put three Zephir LOK 16.300 depot shunters into service moving steel billets from an electric arc furnace to rolling mills at Celsa Steel’s Cardiff site. They are leased from Porterbrook, which said shunters with EU Stage V compliant diesel engines and able ...

  • Freightliner-wagon-conversion
    Rail Business UK

    Redundant coal wagons to be converted for construction traffic

    23 December 2024

    UK: WH Davis is to convert coal wagons owned by leasing company Porterbrook for use by Freightliner to transport aggregates. ’This is a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate what can be achieved by giving redundant fleets a purpose for the next 30-plus years’, said WH Davis Managing ...

  • Porterbrook office logo
    Rail Business UK

    Porterbrook raises £250m in private placement

    18 November 2024

    UK: Leasing company Porterbrook has closed a £250m private placement which includes existing and new investors, extending its debt maturity profile at ‘attractive’ pricing and further diversifying its investor base of US, UK and Swiss institutions. ‘Today’s successful closing supports our ability to invest in the ...

  • CrossCountry 170 Peterborough 1
    Rail Business UK

    Tidyco to overhaul Class 170 HVAC units

    13 May 2024

    UK: Porterbrook Leasing has awarded Tidyco a contract to overhaul and refurbish 444 cab and saloon heating, ventilation and air-conditioning modules from ADtranz/Bombardier Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple-units operated by East Midlands Railway and CrossCountry. Porterbrook and Tidyco have worked together to develop a bespoke overhaul ...

  • Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre (Photo Porterbrook)
    Rail Business UK

    Porterbrook to electrify Long Marston test track

    1 May 2024

    UK: Porterbrook has announced plans to renew the 3·5 km test track at its Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre and install 25 kV 50 Hz electrification. Testing will be possible at speeds of up to 75 km/h, with the capability to support ETCS. ‘Substantial replacement of ...

  • WMT Alstom Class 730 unveil - 300623 Milton Keynes - 730018 TM11
    Rail Business UK

    Porterbrook to finance Class 730 depot improvements at Bletchley

    2 April 2024

    UK: Rail leasing and asset management company Porterbrook is to finance a £66m upgrade of Bletchley depot as the principal maintenance base for West Midlands Trains’ Alstom Class 730 Aventra EMU fleet. This will include investment in overhead electrification equipment, 10-car and five car sidings, refurbishment ...

  • Zephir depot shunter (Image Porterbrook)
    Rail Business UK

    Zephir shunters to replace Class 08 locos at steel works

    28 March 2024

    UK: Leasing company Porterbrook has bought three Zephir LOK 16.300 depot shunters which will be leased to GB Railfreight for use at the Celsa Steel works in Cardiff. The LOK 16.300 is intended as a more sustainable option than the Class 08 diesel shunting locomotives currently ...

  • East Midlands Railway Luton Airport Express Class 360 EMU (Photo EMR)
    Rail Business UK

    East Midlands Railway begins regional train fleet refurbishment

    25 March 2024

    UK: East Midlands Railway has begun a £60m programme to refurbish its fleet of Class 360 electric and Class 158 and Class 170 diesel multiple-units in partnership with Siemens Mobility and leasing companies Angel Trains, Porterbrook and Eversholt. The Siemens Class 360 EMUs leased from Angel ...

  • GB Railfreight JNA X box wagon (Photo Porterbrook)_
    Rail Business UK

    GB Railfreight orders wagons to increase capacity

    15 March 2024

    UK: Leasing company Porterbrook is to supply GB Railfreight with 50 JNA-X box wagons for transporting bulk construction materials including ballast and stone. To be built by Greenbrier, the wagons are expected to arrive in the third quarter of 2024. They are intended to replace older ...

  • Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre_Jack Boskett
    Rail Business UK

    Porterbrook purchases Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre

    7 March 2024

    UK: Porterbrook has purchased the freehold of the Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre from St Modwen. ‘This deal provides absolute clarity for our business, our shareholders and the wider rail industry over the long-term future of Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre’ said Poterbrook CEO Mary Grant ...

  • Brodie Engineering
    Rail Business UK

    Porterbrook takes stake in Brodie Engineering

    21 February 2024

    UK: Rolling stock leasing and asset management company Porterbrook has agreed to take a 49% stake in Brodie Engineering, which specialises in the heavy maintenance, refurbishment and overhaul of passenger and freight vehicles. Brodie Engineering was established in 1996 and now has two sites in Kilmarnock, ...

  • Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre (Photo Porterbrook)
    Rail Business UK

    Rail Charging Facility to enable battery trains to use local power supplies

    6 December 2023

    UK: Porterbrook has announced a £1·7m deal with Siemens Mobility to purchase a Rail Charging Converter, a modular and containerised system developed to enable a battery-powered train to be recharged from standard local power supply cables in places where 25 kV 50 Hz overhead electrification is ...

  • Impression of CAF tri-mode inter-city trainset for LNER - image for illustrative purposes only
    Rail Business UK

    LNER orders CAF tri-mode inter-city trains

    9 November 2023

    UK: London North Eastern Railway has awarded CAF a contract to supply a fleet of 10 tri-mode 200 km/h inter-city trainsets for use on East Coast Main Line passenger services. The trainsets will be financed and owned by leasing company Porterbrook. CAF said the order announced ...

  • GB Railfreight JNA X Box Wagon 1
    Rail Business UK

    GB Railfreight takes delivery of 150 wagons

    11 August 2023

    UK: The last of 150 wagons which leasing company Porterbrook has ordered from Greenbrier for use by GB Railfreight have been delivered. The companies said on-time delivery represented a significant achievement, as the project was impacted by the pandemic, supply chain disruption, a surge in inflation ...

  • Long Marston asset management facility (Photo Porterbrook) (5)
    Rail Business UK

    Asset management facility opened at Long Marston

    3 May 2023

    UK: Porterbrook has spent £3m converting existing sheds at its Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre to provide space for rolling stock maintenance, modification, upgrading and acceptance activities. With full road and rail access, the Asset Management Facility provides three well-lit pit roads ...

  • EMR Class 170 DMU (Photo: EMR)
    Rail Business UK

    Asking passengers what they want from train interiors

    12 January 2023

    UK: A report into what passengers want from train interiors has been produced to help inform the proposed refurbishment of Turbostar diesel multiple-units. Built by Bombardier Transportation from the late 1990s, the units are widely deployed by various train operators on regional services across the British ...