Eurotunnel snaps up rail freight company

1 June 2010

Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel last month bought Great Britain’s third biggest rail freight company in a GBP 31M (USD 45.2M) deal. Eurotunnel’s purchase of GB Railfreight is part of the company’s plans to increase rail freight through the Channel Tunnel after it went down during the recession.

GB Railfreight, which has been owned by transport company Firstgroup since 2003, is the second major British rail company to change hands over the past few years after EWS was bought out by Germany’s Deutsche Bahn in 2007.

The deal represented "a further expression of our commitment to the UK,” said Eurotunnel chairman Jacques Gounon.