Direct Rail Services

Direct Rail Services

68008 with Chiltern Railways service at London Marylebone
Overview
Main (s)	United Kingdom
Parent company	Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Website	www.directrailservices.com

Direct Rail Services (DRS) is a freight operating company created by British Nuclear Fuels Limited in 1994 and in 2005 transferred to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. It has since diversified into other freight operations and providing haulage for passenger services. DRS is one of only two remaining publicly owned railway companies in the United Kingdom (the other being NI Railways, the passenger transport operator in Northern Ireland).

The haulage of nuclear flask traffic had been handled by British Rail until British Nuclear Fuels Limited decided to bring this operation in house in 1994. Up until 1998, it had only moved nuclear fuel rods from overseas for processing at Sellafield. It then took over the movement of rods from UK nuclear power stations at Heysham, Valley (for Wylfa), Bridgwater (for Hinkley Point), Berkeley (for Oldbury), Hunterston, Torness, Seaton Carew, Dungeness and Sizewell.

It first diversified into other traffic in 1997 when it started operating milk traffic from Penrith to Cricklewood. In 2002, it commenced running intermodal trains from Grangemouth to the Daventry International Railfreight Terminal using Class 66/4s. It carries containers for both The Malcolm Group and Asda.