Press statement Akiem:

Akiem, the European leader in locomotive leasing, has acquired German company mgw Service, a major independent player in electric and diesel locomotive maintenance in Europe. The transaction covers the entire share capital of mgw Service and was signed at the end of 2016 by Antje Wallraff and Klaus Weiss, the founding partners and heads of mgw Service, and Fabien Rochefort, Chief Executive Officer of Akiem.

mgw Service provides preventive and corrective maintenance for locomotives on behalf of rail freight and passenger operators. The headquarters of the 70-strong company is based in Kassel (Hesse State). It operates mainly in Germany from its own workshop in Krefeld (North Rhine-Westphalia State) and in Sweden (Hallsberg, Orebro County), but also in Switzerland, Italy and Poland. mgw Service possesses the skills, equipment and spare-part logistics required to cover an extensive range of electric and diesel locomotives. It generated estimated 2016 revenue of close to €20 million from a broad portfolio of private and incumbent operators.

This external growth transaction is part of Akiem’s programme to accelerate its expansion in Europe and step up its investment in new locomotive fleets capable of serving from Germany to Central Europe, Sweden, the North Sea area, and Italy. This will enable Akiem to reinforce its leasing with maintenance offering. mgw Service’s current managerial team will remain in place and the company will continue to operate under the name mgw Service. The complementary leasing and maintenance activities will enable Akiem and its subsidiary, mgw Service, to expand their networks and broaden the nature and level of performance of the services they provide to European operators.

“We are extremely satisfied with this transaction, which gives mgw Service the support of a European leader like Akiem. Our company’s growth is now assured by once again expanding our European base so that we can serve all our customers with ever more dedication and commitment,” said Klaus Weiß, CEO of mgw Service.

Fabien Rochefort, CEO of Akiem, said: “For Akiem, this acquisition is a significant step forward for our expansion in Europe. Akiem is determined to support and develop mgw Service and the synergies with our leasing business. The high professional standards and quality of service offered by both Akiem and mgw Service will enable us to offer our customers new services and provide better solutions for prospective customers in Europe.”

Signed on 28 December 2016, the acquisition should come into force following the decision of the European competition authorities, which is expected for the end of the first quarter of 2017.

Our first image of Captrain/ITL 185 650 in Captrain livery. Photo: Alex Huber

The different divisions of Captrain are getting more visible every day: Captrainized 1600 in the Netherlands, EP09s and 232s in Poland. New TRAXX DCs in Italy, new TRAXX AC3s in Germany and the Captrain Vectrons are now also traveling through in Poland (debute?) and the Czech Republic.

The title image shows the newest Captrainized electric on this website: 185 598 (picture by Thomas Salomon). Previously it had the red/white Veolia Cargo livery with ITL logos. We have listed all TRAXX AC electrics that are part of the Captrain fleet now and their current livery:

TRAXX AC
DL 145 094 > standard Captrain livery since 2013
DL 145 095 > standard Captrain livery since 2013

TRAXX AC1
Ascendos Rail 185-CL001 > standard Captrain livery since 2016
Ascendos Rail 185-CL002 > Salzgitter Mannesmann promo livery
Ascendos Rail 185-CL003 > standard Captrain livery since 2015
Alpha Trains 185-CL004 > Alpha Trains livery blue/silver
Alpha Trains 185-CL005 > standard Captrain livery since 2011
Alpha Trains 185-CL006 > Alpha Trains livery blue/silver
Alpha Trains 185-CL007 > standard Captrain livery since 2010
HML 185 517 > green/silver
HML 185 532 > Captrain livery with TRAXX care text since 2012
DL 185 533 > green/silver with Rail4Chem logos
HML 185 541 > standard Captrain livery since 2012
DL 185 542 > standard Captrain livery since 2011
DL 185 543 > standard Captrain livery since 2011
ITL 185 548 > silver with ITL logos
? 185 549 > standard Captrain livery since 2012
? 185 550 > standard Captrain livery since 2012

TRAXX AC2
ITL 185 562 > standard Captrain livery since 2015
Captrain 185 598 > standard Captrain livery since 2016
Captrain 185 649 > Veolia Cargo livery with ITL logos
Captrain 185 650 > Veolia Cargo livery with ITL logos

TRAXX AC3 Last Mile
Akiem 187 011 > standard Captrain livery since 2016
Akiem 187 012 > standard Captrain livery since 2016
Akiem 187 013 > standard Captrain livery since 2016
Akiem 187 014 > Akiem livery and Flex Panels

As of March 2016, Deutsche Asset Management (Deutsche AM) will hold a 50% stake in Akiem. At this moment, the Franch leasing copany is a 100% subsidiary of the Ermewa Group, part of SNCF.

Together with Deutsche Asset Management (Deutsche AM), Akiem wants to expand its activities in Europe, a double its fleet in the next ten years.

From Fret SNCF, Akiem has now BB 27111-27180 (70 units) in its portfolio, together with BB 37001-37060, minus the crashed and scrapped 37007 (59 units).

Then, Akiem is managing several series from the former Veolia Vargo fleet. Officially they are all property of the VC Holding from Clichy. First there are nine Prima locomotives: 37506, 507, 511, 513, 515, 524, 529, 530, 531. In total Akiem has 68 triple voltage Prima's to its disposal. The other six units that were property of Veolia Cargo, eg 37501, 502, 503, 504, 505, and 509, were sold to Europorte.

Also, Akiem manages six Traxx units, property of VC Holding: 185 598, 649 and 650, and the multi system 186 184, 185 and 186. Two of these units were seen in Hennigsdorf recently. - RV/Akiem

edit: of course the Akiem fleet also includes diesel engines, but those are not represented on this website.

The third unit, 185 649, showed itself outside the factories today.