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 Class 88 locomotive no. 88003 at InnoTrans 2016 on 20 September 2016 | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Main region(s) | Great Britain |
| Fleet size | 107 locomotives (January 2018) |
| Parent company | Nuclear Transport Services (part of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority)[3] |
| Headquarters | Carlisle, England, UK[2] |
| Dates of operation | February 1995[1]–present |
| Other | |
| Website | www |
Direct Rail Services (DRS) is a rail freight company in Great Britain, and is one of the publicly owned railway companies in the United Kingdom.
DRS was created as a wholly-owned subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) during late 1994 with the primary purpose of taking over the rail-based handling of nuclear material from British Rail. As early as 1997, the company began diversification into other operations, initially bidding for contracts to haul freight traffic for other companies such as Tesco and Eddie Stobart Group. Furthermore, DRS has branched into passenger services, these have included charters, such as the Northern Belle, and contracts with operators such as National Express East Anglia, Chiltern Railways, and Arriva Rail North. Additional rolling stock, such as the Class 57 and Class 88 locomotives, have been acquired by DRS during the 2010s.
In 2005, DRS was transferred from BNFL to the newly created Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). During early 2021, further restructuring led to DRS, along with sibling subsidiaries Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL) and International Nuclear Services (INS), falling under a new NDA division, Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS).
- ^ "Direct Rail Services Limited: Company number 03020822". gov.uk. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
- ^ "Contact Details". Direct Rail Services. Retrieved 26 July 2021.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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