Direct Rail Services confirms former TPE Class 68s to go off-lease

Services has confirmed that 14 Class 68s are to be returned to their leasing company, Beacon Rail, at the end of May.

The locomotives involved, 68019032, had previously been sub-leased from DRS to Transpennine Express to haul MK.5A coaches on TPE services between Liverpool Lime Street/ Manchester Piccadilly and Scarborough, although the trains were removed from traffic last December, having only been introduced in 2019. TPE has continued to lease the 66 MK.5A coaches, as well as the Class 68s, until their lease expires at the end of May.

A DRS spokesperson told Railways Illustrated: “DRS has received all of the Class 68s from TPE and they are in the final stages of preparation for their return to the leasing company. Their current lease expires in May and that is the month of their planned return.”

The locomotives are currently being de-branded of their now-obsolete TPE livery at Carlisle Kingmoor, although some are also being used to move MK.5A coaches between storage locations at Crewe South Yard, Longsight and Long Marston. Chiltern Railways has been heavily linked with the EX-TPE stock and locomotives, but no decision has yet been made. Speculation has also suggested that the sets could even be sent abroad. The 14 Class 68s were built by Stadler at its Valencia factory and were delivered to this country during 2015/16. Some, but not all, had also hauled trains for Greater Anglia when it used

Class 68s for a period on the Norwich to Great Yarmouth/lowestoft branches. The decision to return the former TPE sub-leased Class 68s to Beacon Rail leaves DRS with 20 of the locomotives, 68001-018/033/034, of which six are currently sub-leased to Chiltern Railways (68010-015), while a further two have also been modified to work services for Chiltern (68008/009) but are not part of that operator’s core fleet. The remaining Class 68s with DRS are used on intermodal, infrastructure and nuclear flask trains for the operator.