Railcare enters administration

Rolling stock repair and refurbishment company Railcare has entered administration after a breakdown in talks with prospective buyers.

Rail union RMT is campaigning for the government to step in and secure around 500 jobs at the company’s two sites in Wolverton, Milton Keynes and Springburn, Glasgow.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: “RMT is today calling on Vince Cable and the Government to step in to secure the future of these 500 key rail fleet engineering jobs following the collapse of Railcare, the government cannot sit on their hands and watch this situation play out for the want of what we believe is not much more than a million pounds of cash flow finance.

“This crisis has left 500 staff unpaid and without any security and the root cause appears to be the franchising shambles in the wake of the West Coast fiasco.”

BDO LLP business restructuring partners Kim Rayment, Ian Gould and Bryan Jackson were appointed Joint Administrators over Railcare Limited on July 31.

Rayment said: “Unfortunately the economic climate and difficult trading conditions significantly affected the business, together with reduced demand. However, we are hopeful of securing a sale and, depending on customer requirements, the Company may continue to trade whilst this is explored.”