Freightliner Group is a rail freight and logistics company headquartered in the United Kingdom. It is owned by Brookfield, a Canadian investment management company and GIC, a Singaporean sovereign wealth fund.
It was originally created after the Transport Act 1968 as Freightliner Limited, a British government-owned company. From its onset, Freightliner was focused on the haulage of international traffic, thus came to centre its activities around Britain's sea ports, often building new multimodal freight depots adjacent to such locations to better capture this business. During the late 1970s, it was reorganised under British Rail, and became a part of its Railfreight Distribution subsidiary during the late 1980s. Work to expand the loading gauge on routes such as the East Coast Main Line, allowing trains hauling larger containers to use those routes, was conducted around this time. Numerous domestic depots previously operated by Freightliner were closed during the 1990s in preparation for the privatisation of British Rail that same decade.
As a consequence of the privatisation initiative, the business unit was reorganised as Freightliner Limited; on 25 May 1996, it was privatised and sold in a management buyout, supported by 3i and Electra Private Equity for £5.4 million. Freightliner quickly set about modernising and expanding its locomotive fleet, ordering Class 57 and Class 66 locomotives. During 1999, it established the Heavy Haul business; five years later, the Logico service was also launched. By 2014, Freightliner Limited had become the largest intermodal freight transport operator in the United Kingdom, as well as the second largest freight operating company in the country by revenue, behind DB Cargo UK. It had also expanded its operations into various other countries, including Australia, the Netherlands and Poland.
In 2008, Freightliner Group was purchased by Railinvest Holding Company, a subsidiary of Arcapita Bank of Bahrain. In 2015, Freightliner was acquired by Genesee & Wyoming. In 2024, it was split from Genesee & Wyoming by its parent companies Brookfield and GIC. In 2025, the UK intermodal business was sold along with the 'Freightliner' brand in the UK to CMA CGM. The UK bulk haulage business was retained by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and GIC and renamed Heavy Haul Rail.
History
thumb|Original BR FGA Freightliner flats , preserved outside the [[National Railway Museum, York]]
British Rail
The idea of shipping freight in set-sized containers went back to the 1930s in the UK with the adoption of the Conflat system. But it was Dr Richard Beeching who, in his report Reshaping Britain's Railways, advanced the concept of containerised freight in the UK.
During January 1964, the prototype flat wagon was produced by Shildon railway works; later that same year, 100 production wagons were turned out from Ashford railway works. The first revenue-earning train ran between York Way/Maiden Lane in North London and Gushetfaulds in Glasgow on 15 November 1965.
Freightliner Ltd (1968)
Beeching's original concept envisioned Freightliner servicing a domestic freight market, which by 1968 had resulted in British Railways developing 17 purpose-built depots. However, Freightliner's most profitable routes were those servicing Britain's major ports, specifically traffic to/from continental Europe and Ireland, as well as import/export traffic to the rest of the world. This pattern of profitability was recognised in the Transport Act 1968, whereby Freightliner became a separate listed commercial company wholly owned by the UK Government, but which leased its UK domestic rail transport from British Railways.
Increasing Irish traffic resulted in a depot being opened at the Port of Holyhead, as well as Freightliner having dedicated operations in both Belfast and Dublin. The extent of the collapse meant that reconstruction was considered to be too dangerous and expensive, so the tunnel was bypassed by a new section of line constructed in an open cutting slightly to the west of the original alignment that opened five months later in late August. Rejected as not sufficiently profitable by English Welsh & Scottish Railway, As part of the sale agreement, the UK Government awarded the company a track-access grant of £75 million up until the year 2000. However, in actuality, no additional Class 57 locomotives were delivered to Freightliner, largely due to the company opting to place orders for new-built Class 66s, all being leased from Porterbrook.
During 1999, Freightliner established its Heavy Haul business. In March 2004, Freightliner launched Logico, providing short-term or one-off spaces on intermodal trains, it is typically active at major British freight hubs such as the South Wales International Terminal and the Port of Felixstowe. By 2014, Freightliner was actively trying to increase such trains in response to requests for higher service frequencies from ports.
During 2007, Freightliner commenced operations in Poland; a subsidiary of Arcapita Bank of Bahrain.
On 30 June 2009, Freightliner commenced operations in Australia, having secured an initial contract with Namoi Cotton Co-operative to haul containerised processed cotton traffic in New South Wales. Over the following six years, it would become an accredited rail service provider in Western Australia, Southern Australia and Queensland, as well as expanding into hauling coal and other agricultural traffic for various customers in New South Wales.
On 12 November 2015, British Rail Class 47 No. 47830 (D1645), which is operated by Freightliner, was named Beeching's Legacy to mark 50 years since the first container train ran under British Rail.
In April 2018, Freightliner unveiled its new brand identity during an event at the NEC Birmingham, bringing the brand inline with parent company Genesee & Wyoming.
On 1 July 2019, it was announced that Freightliner's parent company Genesee & Wyoming is to be bought for US$8.4billion by a consortium including Brookfield Infrastructure Partners, GIC and Brookfield's institutional partners.
In April 2024, Freightliner UK and Europe split from G&W becoming sister companies, since they were both still owned by Brookfield and GIC.
In September 2025, Freightliner agreed terms to sell the UK intermodal container business to CMA CGM. The sale was completed in January 2026. The UK heavy haul business and European operations were not included in the sale and was retained by Freightliner's existing owners. As the Freightliner brand was included in the sale, the heavy haul business was rebranded Heavy Haul Rail.
Operations
United Kingdom
thumb|Freightliner 66503 in the latest orange livery at Taunton
When Freightliner was privatised in 1996, it only operated Intermodal container services. These ran from ports including Felixstowe, Southampton and Tilbury to terminals such as Birmingham, Trafford Park in Manchester, Stourton (Leeds), Coatbridge (Central Scotland), Ashton Gate (Bristol), and Wentlooge (Newport, South Wales). The network has been expanded with additional destinations added. Freightliner also operate an extensive road distribution network with 300 road vehicles. Freightliner also provides drivers for Scottish TransPennine Express services.
In 1999, Freightliner set up Heavy Haul initially operating railway infrastructure trains for Network Rail moving ballast, rails etc. before moving into other bulk loads including aggregates, cement, coal, petroleum, scrap metal and waste. Initially run as a division of Freightliner Limited, in 2001 operations were transferred to a new subsidiary, Freightliner Heavy Haul Limited. Reportedly, Heavy Haul operations were hit particularly hard during the Great Recession that started in 2008, but, the firm was actively acquiring additional wagons and staff in order to accommodate new growth on top of the recovery of demand from many of its established customers by 2015. Furthermore, due to a lack of available slots on most mainlines, there was an increased emphasis on running longer trains rather than routing additional ones.
During April 2006, Freightliner Maintenance Limited was established as a separate entity dedicated to the repair and maintenance of traction and rolling stock. It acquired a maintenance depot and took on 13 staff in Leeds from a former supplier that same year, and was promptly made responsible for the maintenance of Freightliner's 75 Heavy Haul locomotives. Within its first three years, the division had extended its scope into wagon maintenance, and was reportedly consistently achieving a 95% availability rate on the company's 657 coal wagons; it also had engineering teams and mobile workshops stationed in Birmingham, London, Bristol, York, Scotland and Crewe that undertook scheduled maintenance along with unexpected call-outs. The subsidiary competitively tenders for maintenance work, without any preference from the rest of the company. By 2011, Freightliner Maintenance was servicing all 111 of the company's UK-based Class 66 locomotives, and had branched into both track maintenance and rail freight development activities as well.
In October 2021, the company switched most of its electric operations to diesel trains due to the increased cost of electricity. One month later, Freightliner announced positive results from an alternative fuel trial it was conducted for its diesel-powered fleet, allegedly halving the carbon emissions incurred.
Poland
thumb|[[Newag Dragon|E6DCF Dragon locomotive of Freightliner PL on show at InnoTrans 2016]]
During 2006, Freightliner expanded its operations into Poland. A subsidiary company, Freightliner PL Sp. z o.o., was established to bid for contracts hauling coal traffic. The first contract was for coal transport from Lubelski Węgiel Bogdanka SA near Bogdanka (Bogdanka-Lublin coal mine) to Kozienice Power Station. The service began in September 2007. Most of Freightliner PL's services operate on the Gdańsk to Warsaw corridor and in southern Poland. In February 2015, Freightliner PL signed a €17.5M contract to lease five Newag Gliwice electric six-axle E6DCF Dragon locomotives from ING Lease. With each equipped with a diesel engine for last-mile operation, they are scheduled to be delivered from May to July 2016. Furthermore, Freightliner opted to export 13 of its Class 66 locomotives from the UK to Poland for operations there. and by September 2009 also had accreditation in Queensland and Western Australia. In June 2009, Freightliner Australia commenced operating containerised cotton services from Wee Waa to Port Botany. In September 2009 Freightliner Australia signed a 10-year deal with Xstrata to haul export coal from the Hunter Valley to Newcastle, commencing in September 2010. Under the deal, Xstrata owned the rolling stock with Freightliner Australia providing the engineering, logistics, maintenance and operational support. In May 2012 Freightliner Australia commenced operating a Warren to Port Botany service.
In December 2016, Glencore, who had purchased Xsrata, sold its Hunter Valley coal haulage business to Genesee & Wyoming Australia that was also owned by Freightliner's parent company Genesee & Wyoming. Freightliner's Australian business was merged into Genesee & Wyoming Australia and the brand retired.
Netherlands
In 2013, Freightliner bought Netherlands-based intermodal container operator European Rail Shuttle B.V. from Maersk Line. This subsidiary, has focused on the cross-border intermodal traffic that runs between the northern European ports of Rotterdam, Bremerhaven and Hamburg to various cities across Germany, Poland, Italy and elsewhere in continental Europe.
thumb|66571 heading [[Class 70 diesel locomotive (Great Britain)|70017 and 66587 towards Eastleigh]]
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Freightliner placed multiple orders for new-build Class 66s, cumulating in 111 locomotives being delivered to the company. The first two were delivered in November 2009. These have released a number of Class 66s with five going to Colas Rail, 13 to Freightliner Poland and four to GB Railfreight.
Freightliner also used their single Class 47 (47830) on driver route learning. In 2024, 47830 was sold to Locomotive Services Limited and was repainted into BR Green.
Poland
Freightliner PL ordered seven EMD Class 66s as well as 432 Greenbrier Eamnoss type coal hopper wagons. These have been supplemented by an EMD Class 66 formerly used by Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln and 12 Class 66s transferred from Freightliner's UK operations. A 13th was sent from the UK in October 2012. These units underwent various modifications to allow them to operate on the Polish network.
Australia
Freightliner Australia commenced operations using hired in GL class locomotives from Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia (CFCLA). After a longer-term lease was agreed, two were repainted into Freightliner livery in September 2010. The Warren service that commenced in May 2012 also used locomotives hired from CFCLA. Two CF class locomotives were repainted in Freightliner livery. The Xstrata coal contract was operated by XRN class locomotives that were owned by the customer. Wagon types are PHEH and PHYH for the coal traffic and CQBY, CQFY and CQYY on the grain traffic.
In January 2015 two G class locomotives were purchased.
Fleet detail
United Kingdom
{| class="wikitable"
!align=left|Class
!align=left|Image
!align=left|Type
!align=left|Built
!align=left|Wheel arr.
!align=left|In traffic
!align=left|Numbers
!Notes
|-
|08
|120x120px
|Diesel shunter
|1953
|0-6-0
|0
|<s>08077, 08530, 08531, 08575, 08585, 08624, 08691, 08764, 08785, 08891</s>
|Sold to Freightliner (CMA CGM) in 2026.
|-
| rowspan="3" |59
| rowspan="3" |frameless|120x120px
| rowspan="8" |Diesel locomotive
| rowspan="3" align="centre" |
| rowspan="8" |Co-Co
|align=centre|4
|align=left|59001, 59002, 59004, 59005
| rowspan="2" |Acquired from Mendip Rail in 2019.
|-
|4
|59101-59104
|-
|6
|59201-59206
|Acquired from DB Cargo UK in 2019.
|-
| rowspan="4" |66
| rowspan="4" |120x120px
| rowspan="4" |1999-2008
|7
|66413-66416, 66418-66420
|
Acquired from Direct Rail Services in 2011.
66411, 66412 & 66417 exported to Poland for Freightliner PL.
|-
|29
|66507, 66520, 66522, 66534, 66536, 66537, 66545, 66546, 66547, 66548, 66550, 66555, 66556, 66557, 66558, 66559, 66560, 66561, 66562, 66563, 66564, 66565, 66566, 66585, 66587, 66588, 66589, 66590, 66594
|Original series bought by Freightliner was 66501–66599. 66521 written off after Great Heck rail crash.
66527, 66530, 66535, 66582, 66583, 66584, 66586 and 66595 have been exported to Poland for Freightliner PL.
66573-581 have been sold to Colas Rail and GB Railfreight and renumbered 66846-850 and 66738-741 respectively.
49 locomotives sold to Freightliner (CMA CGM) in 2026.All sold to Freightliner (CMA CGM) in 2026.