Europorte 2 is a rail
freight serviceA freight train or goods train is a group of freight cars or goods wagons hauled by a locomotive on a railway, ultimately transporting cargo between two points as part of the logistics chain...
operator owned by
EurotunnelGroupe Eurotunnel S.A. manages and operates the Channel Tunnel between Great Britain and France. The Company operates the car shuttle services and earns revenue on other trains passing through the tunnel...
, which operates rail freight services between
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
through the
Channel TunnelThe Channel Tunnel , also known as the Chunnel, is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the UK with Coquelles, near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point it is deep...
.
Europorte 2 is part of the corporate and strategic objective of Eurotunnel to provide open and equitable access to the Channel Tunnel. Before its financial restructuring, although a licence was held to operate Europorte 2, Eurotunnel decided not to operate Europorte 2 as it neither had the financial resources or want to upset its partners
EWSDB Schenker Rail , previously known as English, Welsh and Scottish Railway , is the largest British rail freight company. It was created as a result of the break-up of British Rail during the 1990s and is now a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG.EWS was established by a consortium led by Wisconsin...
or
SNCFSNCF is a French public enterprise. Its functions include operation of rail services for passengers and freight, and maintenance and signalling of rail infrastructure owned by Réseau Ferré de France . It employs about 180,000 people...
.
After renewal of its licence by
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
Minister of TransportThe Minister of Transport is a cabinet member in the Government of France. The position was created in 1870 as a modification of that of the Minister of Public Works...
Dominique PerbenDominique Perben is a French politician. Born in Lyon, he was French Minister of Transportation from 2005 to 2007. He was previously Minister of Justice , Minister of Civil Service and Administration and Minister of Overseas France .Perben has been a Deputy in the National Assembly for the fifth...
on 13 February, 2006, which allows Europorte 2 to operate goods trains throughout Europe, and its own financial restructuring and the new investors requiring additional revenues; Eurotunnel's board approved operations of Europorte 2 to offer a high performance traction service to freight train operators who wish to cross the Channel.
Europorte 2 is a rail
freight serviceA freight train or goods train is a group of freight cars or goods wagons hauled by a locomotive on a railway, ultimately transporting cargo between two points as part of the logistics chain...
operator owned by
EurotunnelGroupe Eurotunnel S.A. manages and operates the Channel Tunnel between Great Britain and France. The Company operates the car shuttle services and earns revenue on other trains passing through the tunnel...
, which operates rail freight services between
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
and the
United KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
through the
Channel TunnelThe Channel Tunnel , also known as the Chunnel, is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the UK with Coquelles, near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point it is deep...
.
Objectives
Europorte 2 is part of the corporate and strategic objective of Eurotunnel to provide open and equitable access to the Channel Tunnel. Before its financial restructuring, although a licence was held to operate Europorte 2, Eurotunnel decided not to operate Europorte 2 as it neither had the financial resources or want to upset its partners
EWSDB Schenker Rail , previously known as English, Welsh and Scottish Railway , is the largest British rail freight company. It was created as a result of the break-up of British Rail during the 1990s and is now a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG.EWS was established by a consortium led by Wisconsin...
or
SNCFSNCF is a French public enterprise. Its functions include operation of rail services for passengers and freight, and maintenance and signalling of rail infrastructure owned by Réseau Ferré de France . It employs about 180,000 people...
.
After renewal of its licence by
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
Minister of TransportThe Minister of Transport is a cabinet member in the Government of France. The position was created in 1870 as a modification of that of the Minister of Public Works...
Dominique PerbenDominique Perben is a French politician. Born in Lyon, he was French Minister of Transportation from 2005 to 2007. He was previously Minister of Justice , Minister of Civil Service and Administration and Minister of Overseas France .Perben has been a Deputy in the National Assembly for the fifth...
on 13 February, 2006, which allows Europorte 2 to operate goods trains throughout Europe, and its own financial restructuring and the new investors requiring additional revenues; Eurotunnel's board approved operations of Europorte 2 to offer a high performance traction service to freight train operators who wish to cross the Channel. Europorte 2 services will provide:
- Short and medium length journeys from Calais
Calais is a town in northern France in the department of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is a sub-prefecture...
(return the same day)
- Collaboration with the existing operators on low or medium density traffic
- Serving port and private infrastructures
Operations
On 13 June, 2007 Europorte 2 signed a strategic partnership agreement to operate rail services on behalf of the
Port Autonome de DunkerqueDunkirk is a commune in the Nord department in northern France.It lies 10 kilometres from the Belgian border. The population of the city at the 1999 census was 70,850 inhabitants...
. Europort 2 will also operate trains between the port and the Delta 3 logistics terminal at
DourgesDourges is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region of France.-Geography:An ex-coalmining commune, now a light industrial and farming town, situated some east of Lens, at junction 17 of the A21 and the A1 autoroutes...
, south of
LilleLille is a city in northern France. It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
. Europorte 2 is also looking for suitable freight terminals in the UK, which would be served in partnership with another operator.
Traction and rolling stock
A fleet of forty-six
Class 92The Class 92 is a dual-voltage British railway locomotive which can run on 25 kV AC from overhead wires or 750 V DC from a third rail. It was designed specifically to operate services through the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France...
locomotives were built by a consortium of
Brush TractionBrush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives, based at Loughborough in Leicestershire, United Kingdom situated alongside the Midland Main Line.- History :...
, and
ABB TractionABB, formerly ASEA Brown Boveri, is a Swiss-Swedish multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland, operating mainly in the power and automation technology areas. ABB is one of the largest engineering companies as well as one of the largest conglomerate companies in the world...
(now part of
BombardierBombardier Transportation is the rail equipment division of the Bombardier Inc.. Bombardier Transportation is the world’s largest company in the rail equipment manufacturing and servicing industry. Its headquarters is in Berlin, Germany....
) between 1993–1996. Initially the fleet was split between
Railfreight DistributionRailfreight Distribution was a subsector of British Rail responsible for non-trainload freight operations, as well as Freightliner and Intermodal services. In its early years the division was occasionally referred to as Speedlink Distribution...
(now part of
EWSDB Schenker Rail , previously known as English, Welsh and Scottish Railway , is the largest British rail freight company. It was created as a result of the break-up of British Rail during the 1990s and is now a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG.EWS was established by a consortium led by Wisconsin...
),
SNCFSNCF is a French public enterprise. Its functions include operation of rail services for passengers and freight, and maintenance and signalling of rail infrastructure owned by Réseau Ferré de France . It employs about 180,000 people...
French Railways and British Rail European Passenger Services (now
Eurostar (U.K.) Ltd.Eurostar Limited or EUKL is a subsidiary of London and Continental Railways . It is responsible for the British share of the joint Eurostar operation along with NMBS/SNCB and SNCF ....
and part of
London and Continental Railways-History:Created at the time of the Privatisation of British Rail it bid for and won the contract from the UK government in 1996 to build and operate High Speed 1 between London and the Channel Tunnel...
) for operations through the Channel Tunnel.
The locomotives attached to London and Continental were for operations of the
NightstarThe Nightstar was a proposed overnight sleeper service from various parts of the United Kingdom to continental Europe, via the Channel Tunnel.-History:...
international sleeper services. Introduction of the sleeper services were delayed and then fully cancelled. During 2000, Eurostar (UK) Ltd. offered their seven Class 92 members (92020–21, 32, 40, 44–46) for sale—being surplus to requirements. No immediate buyer could be found, so the locomotives were decommissioned and stored at
Crewe InternationalCrewe Electric TMD is an AC electric locomotive Traction Maintenance Depot situated to the north of Crewe railway station. The depot is situated on the south side of the Crewe to Chester railway line opposite Crewe Works on Victoria Avenue. The depot is operated by EWS...
electric depot.
In February 2007, following a tender exercise, the seven locomotives were purchased by Eurotunnel for £2million, for use by Europorte 2. Five of the purchased locomotives were designated to be refurbished at
Brush TractionBrush Traction is a manufacturer and maintainer of railway locomotives, based at Loughborough in Leicestershire, United Kingdom situated alongside the Midland Main Line.- History :...
's
LoughboroughLoughborough is a town within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It had a population of 57,600 in 2004. It is the second largest settlement in Leicestershire after Leicester, is the seat of Charnwood Borough Council, and the home of Loughborough University.In 1841 Loughborough was...
facility. Subject to getting safety approval from the French National Office for Railway Safety (EPSF), Brush Traction were to fit the locomotives with the French
KVBKVB or Contrôle de Vitesse par Balises is a train protection system used on the French railways and in London St Pancras station which checks and controls the speed of moving trains.KVB consists of:...
signalling and protection equipment, to enable operation of the locomotives beyond Calais and into
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
.
See also
- Rail transport in Great Britain
The railway system in Great Britain is the oldest in the world, with the world's first locomotive hauled public railway opening in 1825. As of 2006, it consists of of standard gauge lines , of which are electrified. These lines are single, double or quadruple track. In addition, a number of...
- History of rail transport in Great Britain
The railway system of Great Britain, the principal territory of the United Kingdom, is the oldest in the world. The system was originally built as a patchwork of local rail links operated by small private railway companies. These isolated links developed during the railway boom of the 1840s into a...
- Euro Cargo Rail
Euro Cargo Rail is a French based operator of freight trains and subsidiary company of UK rail freight operator EWS, the company operates rail freight services ]on a number of routes in France, covering all the French rail network.-Operations:...
External links
- Europorte 2 at Eurotunnel
Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. manages and operates the Channel Tunnel between Great Britain and France. The Company operates the car shuttle services and earns revenue on other trains passing through the tunnel...