GB Railfreight (GBRf) unveiled its new fleet of Class 99 locomotives at its Peterborough headquarters on July 18. The locomotives, initially unveiled whilst in production at Innotrans last year have been backed by Infracapital and Beacon Rail, costing an estimated £150 million.

The first two units were on display at the company’s Peterborough depot with GBRf expecting them to enter commercial service towards the end of the year. Dynamic testing is expected to begin next week.

GB Railfreight (GBRf) unveiled its new fleet of Class 99 locomotives at its Peterborough headquarters on July 18. The locomotives, initially unveiled whilst in production at Innotrans last year have been backed by Infracapital and Beacon Rail, costing an estimated £150 million.

The first two units were on display at the company’s Peterborough depot with GBRf expecting them to enter commercial service towards the end of the year. Dynamic testing is expected to begin next week.

The company has ordered 30 of the vehicles from the manufacturer Stadler, with the full fleet expected to be in full traffic in 2027, with a gradual introduction happening until then.

The locomotives are dual-mode, operating seamlessly on electric lines as well as capable of switching to renewable fuels. GBRf claims that this will halve carbon emissions compared to traditional diesel engines.

Speaking at the event, John Smith, CEO of GBRf, emphasised the importance of the new fleet: “A phenomenal amount of effort has gone into this locomotive from all the teams involved, and I truly believe this is the start of the next generation in rail freight.

“The Class 99 locomotives set a new benchmark for performance. We had to prove we had a business model that would work and that is never easy, so for everybody who has stood by us, we thank them for their support.”

In his speech at the event, Rail Minister, Lord Hendy, welcomed the project, adding that he had “no doubt, this locomotive will be the next icon of Britain’s freight railways.”

He added: “This innovation, built by Stadler, financed by Beacon Rail and introduced to us by GBRf is going to lead the rail freight sector and demonstrate to it and the rest of the world that Britain is at the front.”

Also at the event was Adam Cunliffe, CEO of Beacon Rail, who said; “The arrival of the Class 99s marks an important step forward for rail freight in the UK. They reflect Beacon’s commitment to investing in modern, efficient, and lower-carbon transport solutions that are built to meet the needs of an evolving industry and changing world.”

Smith did express his frustration at the lack of investment in the rail freight sector, in comments likely aimed at the rail minister.

He added; “We should not forget that rail freight has been a success throughout privatisation, and minister, you need to be very careful, we and the number of customers here today are very concerned, that despite the strong words we are hearing, which are very welcome, we need more certainty than that.

“We need the security of capacity, an affordable charging regime and assurance that we don’t become marginalised in an integrated network.”

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Plans for possible direct trains from London to Berlin will be drawn up by a joint UK-German taskforce, reigniting hopes for better rail connections across Europe.

The partnership, announced as part of the bilateral treaty to be signed by the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, and his German counterpart, Friedrich Merz, could eventually lead to direct rail services between the two countries after previous plans for London-Frankfurt trains hit the buffers.

The Department for Transport described the agreement as a “significant step forward”, with direct trains the most eye-catching part of a commitment to collaborate in enhancing sustainable transport links and mobility.

Germany has also agreed to allow some arriving UK airline passengers to use passport e-gates at its airports by the end of August, the Cabinet Office said.

Since Brexit, UK travellers have needed to queue to have their passports manually stamped, rather than use automated gates, at EU airports.

A joint taskforce will bring together transport experts from Germany and the UK to tackle the issues that have blocked such services in the past, including commercial, safety and technical requirements, and, not least, border arrangements.

The transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, raised the possibility of visiting Checkpoint Charlie “direct from the comfort of a train”, adding that the government was “determined to put Britain at the heart of a better-connected continent”.

She said: “The Brandenburg Gate, the Berlin Wall and Checkpoint Charlie – in just a matter of years, rail passengers in the UK could be able to visit these iconic sights direct from the comfort of a train, thanks to a direct connection linking London and Berlin.

“This landmark agreement – part of a new treaty the prime minister will sign with Chancellor Merz today – has the potential to fundamentally change how millions of people travel between our two countries, offering a faster, more convenient and significantly greener alternative to flying.

“The economic potential is enormous. A direct rail link would support the creation of jobs and strengthen the vital trade links that underpin our economic relationship with Germany. British businesses will have better access to European markets, whilst German companies will find it easier to invest and operate in the UK.”

The deal follows a similar memorandum of understanding signed with Switzerland in May to explore direct services.

While direct trains to new European countries may be at least a decade away, the international train operator Eurostar has spoken of its ambition to open new routes to Frankfurt and Geneva. Other potential rival operators, including Virgin, are hoping to start cross-Channel services.

Opening new routes has been difficult due to commercial viability, different track and train systems, and border requirements and station capacity. Eurostar’s longest direct route to date, London to Amsterdam, has had to overcome numerous difficulties, largely linked to border security and passport control, since its delayed inception in 2018.

The demand for direct London-Berlin trains is unclear. Passengers can travel between the UK and German capitals in about 10 hours, changing in Brussels and Cologne.

The rail regulator has been asked why it has failed to do more in an annual report to stress disabled people’s right to “turn up and go” when accessing the railway network.

The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) released new figures this week which showed that satisfaction with booked passenger assistance on the rail network had plateaued, with one in 10 disabled passengers still not even being met at the station after booking help.

The proportion of passengers who received all the assistance they booked also remained stable in 2024-25 at just 78 per cent.

This was even lower for passengers with a “learning, concentrating or remembering disability” (73 per cent); with mental health conditions (72 per cent); those who are neurodivergent (72 per cent); and passengers with a communication impairment (73 per cent).

There were also figures showing what proportion of passengers were satisfied with the assistance they received, with the booking process, and with the helpfulness and attitude of staff.

But there were no similar figures to show the levels of satisfaction for disabled passengers who turn up at a rail station and request assistance with their journey without booking it in advance, which is their legal right.

The report on disabled people’s experiences of Passenger Assist was released alongside ORR’s Annual Rail Consumer Report.

Accessible transport campaigners have been highlighting for years the failure of the rail industry and successive governments to ensure disabled people’s right to spontaneous travel by denying their right to turn up and go (TUAG) across the rail network.

The ORR annual report appears to underline that failure by focusing on pre-booked passenger assistance.

It says only that it is “working with industry to strengthen the quality of data on turn up and go assistance requests”, and that it expects the “quality and completeness to improve over time”.

The only TUAG figures released by ORR this week show the number of TUAG requests made in 2023-24 and 2023-24 (about 312,000 in 2023-24 and about 491,000 in 2024-25), although notes published alongside these figures show they are likely to be unreliable*.

It is the first time such TUAG figures have been published.

Doug Paulley, one of the disabled activists who has highlighted the right to TUAG in his campaigning, said he had a “significant concern” about ORR’s “concentration on assistance booking rather than TUAG” in its “uninspiring” report.

He said ORR did not have reliable or useful statistics on how well rail companies were doing on TUAG.

He said: “Everything they measure or do is about booked assistance: satisfaction with booked assistance, recompense for failed booked assistance…

“It feels like they try to avoid mentioning or acknowledging our right to turn up and go.”

He said this was a “disturbing and counter-productive trend”.

Responding to these concerns, ORR said it was exploring with rail operators “how we might get a better picture of the experience of passengers who request assistance on demand”, including the potential for TUAG passengers to be asked to take part in its existing passenger survey of experiences of assistance.

ORR released figures in the Passenger Assist report that ranked each rail operator on their performance on booked passenger assistance.

It showed that Northern Trains was the worst performer, with only 70 per cent of disabled passengers who were met at the station then receiving all the assistance they had booked, with Transport for Wales (74 per cent) and West Midlands Trains (74 per cent) also performing poorly.

The best performer was London North Eastern Railway (85 per cent).

The annual report notes how ORR has raised concerns through the year about passenger assistance; the reliability of help points at stations; communications between staff at boarding and destination stations when arranging passenger assistance; the reliability of passenger lifts at stations; the provision of accessible rail replacement vehicles; and the complaints process for disabled passengers.

The report points to annual data that shows a 42 per cent increase in the number of faults across the rail network that put lifts out of service for over a week, in 2024-25 compared with the previous year.

Commenting on the report, Stephanie Tobyn, ORR’s director of strategy, policy and reform, said: “Ensuring that disabled passengers consistently receive the support they need to travel by train requires clear focus, collaboration and a commitment to continuous improvement.

“Our latest survey shows that overall passenger satisfaction has plateaued, and we know that, in some instances, assistance failures can leave passengers feeling powerless and frustrated.”

She said that a new rating system on passenger assistance would “help us target our efforts and use resources effectively, focusing on working with those operators where improvement is most needed to deliver better outcomes for passengers”.

*ORR says in its notes that the only TUAG requests recorded are those noted by staff via the Passenger Assist system, while not all rail operators are yet using this system to record TUAG requests, and any requests booked less than two hours before departure are treated as TUAG

Picture by ORR

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