Railcare out of administration?

Sources suggesting that Railcare may have come out of administration.

New owners believed to be Knorr Bremse.

Awaiting details of implications for Wolverton and Springburn... 

UPDATE: This from ITV...

Rail maintenance firm Railcare has been sold to Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems, securing two UK sites and more than 200 jobs, said administrators BDO. 

UPDATE: This from Knorr-Bremse...

Knorr-Bremse Acquires Railcare Business

Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems (UK) Limited has acquired the rail vehicle component and overhaul business of Railcare.

The acquisition sees the UK Company of the global Knorr-Bremse Group taking over the Railcare operational sites at both Springburn in Glasgow and at Wolverton near Milton Keynes.

Following the acquisition Knorr-Bremse has formed a new company called Knorr-Bremse RailServices (UK) Limited. This company now joins the three other established Knorr-Bremse Rail Group operations in the UK. Located at Melksham in Wiltshire is the UK engineering and manufacturing headquarters, at nearby Corsham is a satellite precision machining operation and at Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire, Knorr-Bremse operates a specialist HVAC facility.

Knorr-Bremse RailServices (UK) Limited will be fully supported by Knorr-Bremse UK but will operate as a specialist company with its own identity. The company will continue to offer customers its previous portfolio of services and remain fully focused on train maintenance and repair.

Paul Goodhand, Managing Director of Knorr-Bremse in the UK commenting on the acquisition of Railcare said, “We are delighted to welcome Railcare into the Knorr-Bremse family of companies based here in the UK. My team and I in the UK and the Executive Board of Knorr-Bremse are committed to the future success of Knorr-Bremse RailServices (UK) Limited. We see Knorr-Bremse RailServices operations developing and expanding in the future in what we view as a dynamic area of rail operations with much potential. Railcare currently has many skilled and experienced individuals working at both its sites, in vehicle overhaul and repair but also in specialist incident repair and logistics. We believe that with the support of Knorr-Bremse, both in terms of solid financial investment and in process and management experience and support, we will, together with the existing team, be able to create a strong, new company. Our vision for Knorr-Bremse RailServices (UK) Limited is to create a company which supports customers in keeping their trains running through offering them an outstanding range of quality train maintenance and repair specialist services going forward.”
 
ENDS

Railcare enters Administration

This from the RMT...

RAIL UNION RMT today called for urgent intervention by Business Secretary Vince Cable to save 500 skilled engineering jobs in Glasgow and Milton Keynes after it was confirmed that rail fleet repairs and refurbishment company Railcare has been placed in administration.

RMT understands that the Government have been approached by the company for assistance in getting Railcare through a short-term cash flow crisis but that they were turned down. The union is pointing out that for want of what is estimated to be not much more than a million pounds in cash flow, the Government have turned their backs, whilst at the same time wasting an estimated £100 million on the aborted franchising timetable – a shambles which looks like it is the main cause of the crisis at Railcare.

Unions had been made aware earlier this week that Railcare was in trouble after it failed to pay staff wages and after a planned takeover by a German company collapsed. Crisis talks this morning with another potential buyer are thought to have collapsed forcing the company into administration with BDO appointed as the administrators.

RMT understands that although Railcare has a full order book and plenty of work in the pipeline from the train operators via the rail fleet leasing companies they ran into a cash-flow problem which has forced the move into administration threatening the jobs at the former British Rail plants at Springburn near Glasgow and Wolverton near Milton Keynes. RMT also understands that the key delays with moving the order book forwards have been caused by the franchising chaos in the wake of the West Coast fiasco which has held back fleet refurbishment plans while costing the taxpayer £100 million.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:
“RMT is today calling on Vince Cable and the Government to step in to secure the future of these 500 key rail fleet engineering jobs following the collapse of Railcare, the Government cannot sit on their hands and watch this situation play out for the want of what we believe is not much more than a million pounds of cash flow finance. Reports that Railcare have already been turned down for assistance make a mockery of the Government’s business strategy and their stated objective of protecting skilled jobs.

“This crisis has left 500 staff unpaid and without any security and the root cause appears to be the franchising shambles in the wake of the West Coast fiasco. Vince Cable and the Government have a moral and economic duty to intervene urgently to save these jobs and protect the scheduled work and RMT will meet with him at any time to assist in moving this on. All of us now need to work together to secure these jobs and the important work that the company is involved in.”
 
ENDS 

Soup proves popular in engineering world

Good news for fans of Mk3s!

This from the Railway Gazette:

Porterbrook Leasing has awarded Railcare a £5m contract to undertake the C6 scheduled overhaul and additional corrosion repairs to 111 locomotive-hauled MkIII coaches operated by Abellio Greater Anglia on London - Norwich services.

The work is scheduled to start in October 2013 for completion in July 2016, with five coaches undergoing overhaul at Railcare's Wolverton plant at any one time.
 
Good news indeed.

But what's this?

A number of cryptic messages have reached Eye suggesting that sales of soup have been rocketing in areas around Milton Keynes and Glasgow!?!

The Fact Compiler admits he is confused…

All change at Railcare

Eye understands that there have been some changes at Railcare.

So farewell Robert Baxter!

And a big Eye welcome to new MD Mark Cooper, although apparently on an interim basis.

Nothing on the website yet...