Auriozon, the largest rail company in Australia, has launched an interstate container service.
The company will operate a weekly return service on the Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane route. The service will start at Melbourne on Wednesdays, connect at Glenlee terminal in Sydney, and continue through to the Brisbane Multimodal terminal at the Port of Brisbane for a Friday arrival. The service will be anchored by key customer Team Global Express (TGE).
Auroizon transports more than 250 million tonnes of Australian commodities, connecting miners, primary producers and industry with international and domestic markets. These commodities include grain, phosphate and critical minerals.
Flexibility on linehaul needs
The new rail service will cater for manufactured goods and produce as well as import and export traffic.
Aurizon’s group executive containerised freight Gareth Long welcomed this initiative “By growing capacity on these linehaul routes, Aurizon can offer customers more options and flexibility for their inter-city transport requirements. We are looking forward to increased activity for our business, as investments that we are making in new rollingstock, terminal and port equipment are progressively commissioned to support existing and new customers,” he says.
In May, Aurizon announced the departure of group executive for bulk Clay McDonald. He was replaced by general manager iron ore & bulk west, Anna Dartnell.
In February 2023, Aurizon was awarded an Australia-wide 11-year contract with TGE, for rail linehaul services connecting Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne Sydney and, Brisbane.
Townsville Port rail terminal
In September 2022, the company invested $5 million at Townsville Port, the port’s first multi-modal rail terminal. This project involves investing in a direct rail corridor into the Aurizon Port Services (APS) container and handling park, with almost two kilometers of track across three rail lines. This means APS customers in North Queensland will have access to the full range of multi-modal solutions – road, rail and, port – for their logistics requirements.
The company has a growing list of industrial and mining customers in northern Australia who want to grow a seamless logistics chain between the North West Minerals Province and the Port of Townsville.
Australian rail freight transport market
Mordor Intelligence reports that increasing rail investment infrastructure has given a positive outlook to the rail freight transport market.” The construction phase of the mining boom in the past has been a major driver of rail infrastructure investment, which has then been partially sustained by periods of strong extraction-based phases. Australians have significantly increased their desire for a rural lifestyle over the past five years as the trend toward working from home is fuelled by technology and the worldwide pandemic,” reads the report.
About the author
Sharl is a qualified journalist. He has over 10 years’ experience in the media industry, including positions as an editor of a magazine and Business Editor of a daily newspaper. Sharl also has experience in logistics specifically operations, where he worked with global food aid organisations distributing food into Africa. Sharl enjoys writing business stories and human interest pieces.
