First GBRf have announced an increase in services for Royal Mail, three new coal contracts and a multi million pound expansion to its fleet, with the purchase of 90 coal hoppers and five new locomotives (loco order already announced).

Under the new agreement with Royal Mail, First GBRf, who currently move mail between Willesden in London to Royal Mail’s depot in Glasgow, has been asked to provide additional train services for the postal company.

The move follows another successful period of operation by First GBRf, who have been effectively moving post by rail for Royal Mail for more than three years, and were awarded the ‘Best Vendor Going the Extra Mile’ accolade for “consistently delivering over and above the expected” by Royal Mail in 2007.

John Smith, First GBRf’s Managing Director, is delighted at the extension of services. He said: “We are thrilled to be increasing the amount of mail we transport for Royal Mail.  Our award winning service and ability to better manage rolling stock has allowed us to increase the number of postal train journeys we run from two to five a day. This coupled with an unrivalled record in reliability, means we have been able to successfully meet Royal Mail’s needs of delivering excellent service to its customers and we look forward to developing this relationship further in the future.”

First GBRf has also increased its share of the UK coal market with three new contracts from major coal suppliers British Energy, Alcan and Drax Power, taking its share of the coal market to 12% in under two years.

The multi year contract with British Energy is for the haulage of coal from Immingham to Eggborough power station in the Aire Valley and will commence in April 2008. Trains will consist of Class 66s and 22 HYA coal hoppers will be dedicated to the flow.

The agreement with Alcan includes haulage of both imported coal from the Port of Tyne and indigenous coal from UK Coal’s Widdrington railhead to Lynemouth power station near Ashington.

With additional contracts also secured from a number of significant volume coal trading companies who import coal into the UK’s four main east coast ports, Immingham, Hull, Redcar and Port of Tyne, First GBRf will be operating out of all four of the aforementioned east coast ports to both Aire Valley and the Trent Valley power stations, in addition to Alcan’s power station at Lynemouth in Northumberland.

In order to support the new flows First GBRf will be placing a multi-million pound order for additional new HYA coal hoppers, which will be built in Romania, taking First GBRf’s total number of dedicated coal wagons to over 150.

First GBRf has also enlarged its loco fleet with the purchase of five new Class 66/7s, built by EMD and leased through Porterbrook, which are due for delivery in mid March and will be used to support both the new growth in coal and freight use generally.

John Smith, Managing Director of First GBRf said: ‘We are pleased to announce new business contracts within the coal market and the extension of our services for Royal Mail. The new locomotives will be an important addition to our fleet, as we continue to expand in 2008.”