EWS Energy unveiled to the coal and electricity generation industries...

EWS Energy, the rail haulier moving coal and other fuels for the energy sector, will today be presented to coal suppliers and electricity generators at the Coaltrans World Coal Conference in Athens, Greece, prior to the launch of the new division on 6 November 2006.

EWS Energy has been formed to be strongly focused on the rail transportation needs of the electricity generation industries. EWS Energy is a new concept in Britain and will provide added value to its customers by moving coal and other fuels for the energy sector through enhanced service provision.

Coaltrans is the key annual event for all major players in the coal market. Through interaction with customers, EWS Energy has a professional and deep understanding of energy markets, enabling services to be dovetailed to the requirements of customers. EWS Energy is the only British rail freight operator at this important conference, which discusses topical issues in the coal and electricity generation markets.

EWS Energy will outline to customers and delegates at the conference its work to enhance customer service in order to facilitate growth in coal volumes moved by rail, through:

• Operating heavier coal trains on the rail network
• Increasing the number of double length trains operating on the rail network
• Outlining the resource and planning benefits for customers using EWS Energy's stable plan operations

Following a summer campaign that saw volumes hauled increase by 26%, compared to the previous year, EWS Energy is working with Network Rail to increase the average tonnage hauled per train from the current level of 1,400 tonnes. By operating longer coal trains, 6 million tonnes of haulage capacity has already been created for EWS Energy customers through improved utilisation of its current fleet.

Double length trains result in more coal volumes being delivered to customers on constrained long haul routes. By combining two services together more coal can be moved in one valuable train path. This represents an innovative way to free up capacity, which will allow even more coal to be delivered by EWS Energy. Additional double length coal trains are planned to be introduced soon.

Paul Bates, Managing Director of EWS Energy, said: "EWS Energy is focused on delivering for the electricity generation market in Britain. Through our extensive dialogue with the industry, such as at Coaltrans, we are able to deliver services that meet the requirements of this important market. We are excited to be launching EWS Energy in early November, representing one of the most significant developments in rail freight in years. This is the future of rail freight and we look forward to delivering increased coal volumes by rail."

EWS Energy will operate an average of 700 coal trains a week.