About Alpha Trains

Pioneer in leasing rail vehicles

Alpha Trains has owned and leased locomotives and passenger trains for nearly 24 years. As the leading provider of flexible leasing solutions in Europe, we offer:

  • Know -how in the fields of procurement, asset management, maintenance, and repair,
  • Extensive experience in financing new build projects,
  • Expertise in refurbishment, and a
  • Fleet of vehicles with a total value of over €3 billion.

Over 140 employees of different nationalities and specialisations are working to fulfil your needs across Europe in our offices in the cities of Luxembourg, Antwerp, Cologne, Madrid, Paris and Warsaw. With our current portfolio of approximately 520 locomotives and an additional 493 multiple-unit trains, we offer vehicles for a wide range of uses across 22 European countries.

Motivated by our success story, we have set ourselves the goal of driving forward the liberalisation of the market – whilst at the same time living up to the social and environmental role of passenger and freight railway transportation: with modern, high-quality vehicles and sustainable financing solutions.

We look forward to satisfying your needs! Let’s keep your success on track together.

YOUR BUSINESS
RIGHT ON TRACK

Under this motto our image film shows our business and what drives our success and passion.

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Alpha Image Film

Alpha Trains – a success story


1994

  • Year 1994

    The privatisation of British Rail

    In 1994, British Rail (BR) sells all BR rolling stock to so-called ROSCOs (Rolling Stock Companies) during the privatisation of the UK’s state railway company: in turn, these companies lease their vehicles to rail operating companies.

    This results in three new ROSCOs in 1994: Angel Trains, Porterbrook, and Eversholt Rail.

  • Year 1999 - 2002

    Expansion outside of Great Britain

    From 1999 onwards, Angel Trains International is in charge of the expansion outside of Great Britain.

    Two years later, in 2001, the office responsible for locomotive leasing opens in Antwerp, Belgium.

    In 2002, the passenger train division in Europe follows, based in Cologne, Germany.

  • Year 2008

    Sale of the Angel Trains Group

    In summer 2008, an international consortium of investors purchased the entire Angel Trains Group from the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

    This separated Angel Trains International from the British division and has operated since then as an independent company.

  • Year 2009

    Change of name to Alpha Trains

    In December 2009, Angel Trains International is renamed Alpha Trains and from then on operates independently of the British company, which continues to operate as Angel Trains.

    The shareholders of Alpha Trains are Arcus Infrastructure Partners, AMP Capital, and PSP Investments.

  • Year 2012 - 2016

    Another phase of strong growth

    In the following years, the Alpha Trains portfolio expands significantly through the purchase of passenger trains and the acquisition of the remaining locomotive and train portfolio of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

    The creation of a new financing platform with a €1.5 billion transaction volume and numerous new vehicles further strengthen the business model.

  • Year 2016

    Additional refinancing

    The Alpha Trains Group successfully completes refinancing for the value of approximately €600 million: for the first time, this takes place partially via the US private placement market. The purchase of an additional 89 trains strengthens the market position of the lessor.

    As part of the refinancing, Alpha Trains concludes the world’s first Green Private Placement in the rolling stock sector.

  • Year 2017

    New vehicles boost the fleet portfolio

    Alpha Trains expands: with the construction of 13 state-of-the-art FLIRT electric multiple-unit trains for the TWN and HWN networks, Alpha Trains once again expands its train portfolio, also adding 10 newly-built Siemens Vectron MS and six Euro 4000 trains to the locomotive fleet.

    Alpha Trains currently owns 416 multiple-unit trains and 363 locomotives, with a total value of over €2.5 billion (2016/17).

  • Year 2018

    Additional locomotives and France

    Alpha Trains enters the French railway market and establishes a French subsidiary based in Paris.

    The Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) honors Alpha Trains as a sector leader in sustainability.

    Nine new EURO4001 locomotives of the latest generation expand the locomotive fleet of Alpha Trains.

  • Year 2019

    Sustainability, Refinancing & Fleet Expansion

    As the first ROSCO in Europe Alpha Trains publishes a „Green Finance Framework“.

    Alpha Trains successfully completes refinancing transaction and raises over €700m of debt, including a Green Loan and Green Notes.

    24 new passenger trains and 10 new locomotives expand our fleet and broaden our portfolio.

  • Year 2020

    Fleet Expansion, Sustainability Report & Resilience

    Alpha Trains’ fleet expanded - 32 new and 3 used passenger trains and 22 new locomotives expand the Alpha Trains fleet.

    The Alpha Trains Group publishes its first Sustainability Report and is the first in the private rolling stock leasing sector to announce carbon neutrality.

    For the fourth year in a row, Alpha Trains is awarded the GRESB 5-star rating. In addition, the "BBB"- Fitch rating confirms Alpha Trains" stable and resilient business model notwithstanding the COVID pandemic. 

  • Year 2021

    Fleet Expansion & Continued Focus on Sustainability

    Alpha Trains’ fleet continued to grow, and the expansion included 31 Siemens Mobility Mireo Plus B battery-powered multiple units (BEMUs) and 27 new locomotives in a mixture of Siemens Vectron and Stadler E6000 locomotives.

    Once again, we had a strong focus on sustainability. Our successes and initiatives included the renewed award of a GRESB 5-star rating, carbon neutral footprint and ISO14001 and 45001 re-certifications.