It was granted an operator's licence in June 2000, and started running Intermodal container trains in February 2002; the haulage of other freight traffic commenced later that year.

[3][4] In June 2000, GB Railfreight was granted an operator's licence, permitted it to run trains on the British rail network.

[8][17] During March 2007, First GBRf commenced operating its first coal trains, on behalf of both Drax Group and EDF Energy.

These services, running from Cardiff Central to Taunton, consisted of hired Virgin Trains Class 57/3 locomotives hauling rakes of Mark 2 carriages.

[25][26][27][28] During May 2010, FirstGroup announced that it was putting the business up for sale; various companies, including Europorte, Freightliner and SNCF, were reportedly interested in acquiring First GBRf.

[32][33] In 2012, GBRf commenced a ten-year contract to operate the 43-mile (69 km) rail network at Sahavirirya Steel Industries Lackenby steelworks, Teesside.

[37] During early 2019, GBRf worked closely with Wabtec and Serco to prepare for the launch of the new Mark 5 carriages for the Caledonian Sleeper.

[38] In October 2016, the business was purchased by the global investment firm EQT AB, after which its operations were aligned with its Hector Rail subsidiary internationally.

[40] During September 2019, EQT AB announced it had agreed to sell GB Railfreight to another investment company, Infracapital; the transaction was completed one month later.

During October 2012, three unused Class 66s, previously ordered by Crossrail Benelux and stabled in the Netherlands, were purchased and transported to Britain by GBRf.

[49][50] During late 2017, DB Cargo UK sold ten Class 66/0s (66008/016/046/058/081/132/141/184/238/250) to GBRf, who allocated the 66780–789 series to them in ascending order.

[52][53] The first locomotive, 66790 (T66 403) arrived on 3 June and was moved from Immingham Docks to Longport, where Electro-Motive Diesel were to convert it to UK standards before it entered traffic.

After GBRf won a contract to operate Network Rail infrastructure trains in the south-east, four were overhauled by Fragonset Railways.

Of these, eleven were completely re-engineered between 2014 and 2015, being equipped with 1,600 hp (1,200 kW) MTU diesel power units; five were dedicated to Network Rail infrastructure traffic in the south of England while the remaining six being transferred to Scotland for use on the diesel-hauled legs of the Caledonian Sleeper services.

[60] In August 2014, GBRf purchased a single Class 59 locomotive from the Germany company Heavy Haul Power International.

[citation needed] In June 2018, GBRf acquired 16 of the Class 56 locomotives owned by UK Rail Leasing (UKRL), together with various parts.

[72][73][74][75][76] To operate services on the Lackenby steelworks, Teesside network, eight 1996–97-era Maschinenbau Kiel locomotives were purchased from Norwegian State Railways.

[34] GB Railfreight operated a pair of refurbished Vanguard 0-6-0DH locos (re-numbered DH50-1 and DH50-2) for shunting purposes at Tremorfa/Cardiff Tidal works.

In August 2024, GB Railfreight announced it had acquired four Clayton Equipment Class 18 Hybrid+ CBD90 shunt locomotives, leased from Beacon Rail.