Angel Trains targets rail infrastructure expansion

ANGEL Trains is looking to expand into rail infrastructure, to supplement its long-established rolling stock business.

Managing Director Malcolm Brown revealed the move exclusively to RAIL, saying that he was interested in ETCS (European Train Control System), overhead line equipment, depots and stations. He explained that investing in depots could help train operators maintain the fleets they lease from Angel Trains.

His move comes as Network Rail is seeking to encourage third-party investment in rail infrastructure, having run short of money following cost and schedule overruns on major projects such as the Great Western Main Line electrification.

However, Brown said that NR had shown little interest in Angel’s proposals, which have included taking responsibility for groups of stations. He told RAIL he would be interested in taking a portfolio of both little and large stations, suggesting that York and the stations along the Harrogate loop could provide the basis of a 20-year concession.

Income would come from access fees charged to train operators, and other streams such as car parks, with any deal including maintenance and improvement agreements. Angel would not operate the stations.

Brown’s proposals to invest in trackside ETCS signalling equipment reflect comments made by NR’s Managing Director for Digital Railway David Waboso, who has talked of NR leasing such kit in the future rather than buying it. Angel Trains would already be investing in ETCS kit for rolling stock, so Brown suggested it made sense for one company to own both track and train aspects of this cab signalling equipment that is set to be rolled out onto Britain’s tracks.

For overhead electrification, Brown said he was more interested in small schemes rather than major projects such as the Great Western. He acknowledged that small schemes such as the three missing links in northwest England (Manchester-Stalybridge, BoltonWigan and the Windermere branch) could make it more likely that electric trains made redundant by new trains elsewhere could find new homes.

He suggested that Angel would be happier to work with established companies such as Alstom, rather than with NR. Thirdparty funding had been mooted to a planned wiring scheme to Hull from the East Coast Main Line. This foundered when Hull Trains decided to procure bi-mode trains to replace its diesel units, rather than straight electric trains.

Angel Trains already employs electrical and mechanical engineers for its rolling stock interest, so Brown suggested that adding civil engineers should not be difficult. And investing in depots would ensure that they were properly equipped for Angel’s trains.

“They wouldn’t be old depots designed for lump hammers rather than laptops,” he said, adding that spending £15 million on a new depot would be only a small part of a train order that might reach £800m.