rolling stock company
{{Short description|Company owning railway engines and carriages}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
A rolling stock company (ROSCO) or rolling stock leasing company owns and maintains railway engines and carriages which are leased to train operating companies who operate the trains.
Rolling stock companies have been criticised as rentier capitalist, in that they add little value to the end product compared to direct ownership of the trains by the train operating companies, and extract profits from what were once in many cases government-owned and government-financed assets.{{Cite journal |last=Dennis |first=Gareth |author-link=Gareth Dennis |date=2022 |title=Britain's privatised railways |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/newe.12320 |journal=IPPR Progressive Review |volume=29 |issue=3-4 |pages=234-243 |via=Wiley Online Library}} However, the arrangement removes the need for the train operating companies to raise capital to purchase the rolling stock.
Africa
- Sheltam GrindrodRailways Africa 2007/6 p. 6
- Swifambo Rail Leasing{{cite web|url=http://www.swifamboholdings.co.za/ |title=rail mobility at its best |publisher=Swifambo Holdings |date=2014-05-18 |access-date=2014-05-18 |url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140519022528/http://www.swifamboholdings.co.za/ |archive-date=2014-05-19 }}
Australia
Europe
= United Kingdom =
{{See also|Rail transport in Great Britain#Train leasing services}}
ROSCOs began to be used when British Rail was privatised, beginning in 1994.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=23 May 2018 |title=Railway passenger franchises |url=https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN01343/SN01343.pdf |access-date=27 May 2025 |website=House of Commons Library |page=5}}