A fleet of 25 brand new JNA-Z box wagons from VTG Rail UK, the British arm of the multi-national freight wagon supplier, has entered traffic for Direct Rail Services (DRS). The wagons were built by WH Davis at its Shirebrook facility in Derbyshire, England. They will be operated by Nuclear Transport Solutions’ (NTS) rail division – Direct Rail Services. The wagons will carry all manner of bulk cargo, but be assured, nothing radioactive.

The deal for the rake of new wagons, leased by VTG Rail UK to Direct Rail Services, involved the specialist manufacturing effort of WH Davis at their plant in Shirebrook. The multi-national leasing company put well-founded faith in the last independent freight rolling stock manufacturer in the UK. That faith has been rewarded with delivery of a consist that does everyone involved a substantial credit.

New rake is poised to enter traffic

“We had the privilege of attending WH Davis’s Shirebrooke site to witness the collection of these 25 newly built JNA-Z box wagons’, said Archie Lucas, VTG Rail UK Sales Manager. “It’s great to see these wagons coming off the production line and into service for our valued customer DRS. These wagons will become part of a wider fleet supplied by VTG, further cementing a positive working relationship between our companies.”

VTG Rail UK works closely with the major rail freight operators across the UK. The company says it is delighted to see these brand-new wagons leave the factory. The new rake is now poised to enter revenue-earning traffic. Tipping the scales at a gross laden weight of 101.6 tonnes, the design has been kept to an efficient tare weight of 24.2t, giving a payload of 77.4t. That’s easily around double the maximum weight allowed for even the largest permissible road vehicles in the UK.

Support UK manufacturing whilst also delivering

The new operators of the rake have their eyes on the big chance. ”These new wagons are an excellent addition to our portfolio and will enable us to provide new services to our customers,” said Gottfried Eymer, NTS Managing Director for Rail. “These are very exciting times, and the wagons offer a huge amount of flexibility, not to mention that each train we operate can take up to 60 lorries from the roads and offer CO2 savings of 76 per cent when compared to road transport.”

The new wagons take the number of wagons used by DRS that are leased from VTG Rail UK from 115 to 140. The previous hires all involved intermodal wagons. The new wagons are being hired via a wet lease, meaning that VTG Rail UK will also provide maintenance. “It’s good to work with WH Davis and support UK manufacturing whilst also delivering a robust set of wagons for our customer”, added Archie Lucas. “We look forward to seeing these wagons entering service with Direct Rail Services.”

Overall, the Hamburg-headquartered VTG has a fleet of around 84,000 rail freight wagons—mostly tank wagons, intermodal wagons, standard freight wagons, and sliding-wall wagons—as well as about 5,000 tank containers.