Industry | Railway operator |
---|---|
Founded | 17 December 2000 |
Defunct | 30 June 2011 |
Successor | QR National |
Area served | Western Australia |
Parent | Aurizon |
Website | www.arg.net.au |
Australian Railroad Group (ARG) was an Australian rail freight operator. It began operations in Western Australia on 17 December 2000 following its purchase of the Westrail freight business. It was purchased by QR National in June 2006. The main commodities hauled by ARG included grain, mineral sands, alumina, bauxite, coal, woodchips, quartz, nickel and iron ore around Western Australia. In June 2011, it ceased trading as a separate brand, and became part of QR National.
In 2000, the Australian Railroad Group was formed as a 50/50 joint venture between United States rail operator Genesee & Wyoming Inc and Australian rural services company Wesfarmers, to bid for the freight operator Westrail which was being sold by the Western Australian state government. Genesee & Wyoming already had an Australian presence, having purchased the South Australian freight operations of Australian National in November 1997 and rebranded the operation Australia Southern Railroad. [1] [2] [3]
In October 2000, Australian Railroad Group were announced as the successful bidder for Westrail with operations commencing on 17 December 2000. Under the deal, 95 locomotives, 2,500 wagons, freight terminals and customer contracts were purchased with the infrastructure remaining in government ownership, and leased to ARG for 49 years. [4] [5]
As part of the deal, the joint venture assumed ownership of Genesee & Wyoming's South Australian operation, Australian Southern Railroad. [4]
Initially, trains in Western Australia operated under the Australia Western Railroad name, with AWR logos being applied to locomotives in the orange, black and yellow of Genesee & Wyoming. With ARG's involvement with the Asia Pacific Transport Consortium building the Alice Springs to Darwin line, resulting in some locomotives operating construction trains on the line receiving Australia Northern Railroad logos, it was decided to rebrand all ANR, ASR and AWR operations under the Australian Railroad Group banner from August 2002. [3]
In June 2006, the joint venture was dissolved with Wesfarmers selling its 50% share in the South Australian operations back to Genesee & Wyoming. The above rail operation in Western Australia was sold to QR National and the below the rail WestNet Rail infrastructure business to Babcock & Brown. [6] [7] [8]
In June 2011, it ceased trading as a separate brand, and became part of QR National. [9]
With the introduction of the ARG name and corporate colours, ARG began a gradual process of standardising the locomotive classification based on horsepower, with a progressive (and still incomplete) renumbering. As of February 2006 new letter classes will be used in conjunction with the new horsepower based numbering system (The Z on the end of some class letters refers to locomotives fitted with ZTR).
Forrestfield is a suburb of the City of Kalamunda in Western Australia. It lies 15 kilometres to the south-east of Perth at the base of the Darling Scarp and the southern border of Perth Airport.
Arc Infrastructure is a transport infrastructure owner and access provider in Western Australia with a long-term lease on the network from the Government of Western Australia. It operates approximately 5,500 km of standard, narrow and dual gauge rail infrastructure in the southern half of the state.
Kewdale Freight Terminal is a large intermodal rail facility in the Perth suburb of Kewdale, Western Australia. Branching off the Kwinana freight railway, it was built in the 1960s to replace the Perth marshalling yard. It initially comprised ten narrow gauge (1067mm) and seven standard gauge (1435mm) arrival roads.
Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the state government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra responsibility for tram and ferry operations that it assumed and later relinquished. Westrail was the trading name of WAGR from September 1975 until December 2000, when the WAGR's freight division and the Westrail name and logo were privatised. Its freight operations were privatised in December 2000 with the remaining passenger operations transferred to the Public Transport Authority in July 2003.
Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) is an American short line railroad holding company, that owns or maintains an interest in 122 railroads in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, and the United Kingdom; and formerly in Australia.
Interail was an Australian rail freight operator owned by QR National. In June 2011 it ceased trading as a separate brand, and became part of QR National.
Downer Rail is a business unit within the Downer Group. As well as manufacturing and maintaining railway rolling stock it holds maintenance contracts to maintain rail infrastructure. The head office is located in North Ryde.
Railways in Western Australia were developed in the 19th century both by the Government of Western Australia and a number of private companies. Today passenger rail services are controlled by the Public Transport Authority through Transperth, which operates public transport in Perth, and Transwa, which operates country passenger services. Journey Beyond operates the Indian Pacific.
The GT46C is a model of diesel-electric locomotive designed and built by Clyde Engineering using Electro-Motive Diesel components. A number of Australian rail freight operators purchased them from 1997: Westrail as the Q class, FreightLink as the FQ class, and Freight Australia as the single-locomotive V class. As of 2022, all 24 locomotives were owned by Aurizon following its purchase of certain One Rail Australia assets in July 2022.
One Rail Australia was an Australian rail freight operator company. Founded by a United States short line railroad holding company, Genesee & Wyoming Inc, in 1997 as Australian Southern Railroad, and successively renamed Australian Railroad Group and Genesee & Wyoming Australia, it was renamed One Rail Australia in February 2020 after the American company sold its remaining shareholding. In July 2022, assets from the South Australian, Northern Territory and interstate operations of the company were sold to rail operator company Aurizon Holdings Limited. The remaining assets, relating to coal haulage in New South Wales and Queensland, were sold in February 2023 to Magnetic Rail Group.
The L Class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville and Eagle Farm, and Commonwealth Engineering, Rocklea for the Western Australian Government Railways between 1967 and 1973.
The 830 class are a class of diesel locomotives built by AE Goodwin, Auburn for the South Australian Railways between 1959 and 1966. The New South Wales 48 class and Silverton Rail 48s class are of a very similar design.
The S class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Forrestfield for Westrail in 1998.
The WAGR A/AA/AB classes are classes of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville, New South Wales, Australia, for the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) between 1960 and 1969.
The D/DA class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville for the Western Australian Government Railways in 1971-1972.
The P class are a class of diesel locomotives built by A Goninan & Co, Bassendean for Westrail between 1989 and 1991.
The wheatbelt railway lines of Western Australia were, in most cases, a network of railway lines in Western Australia that primarily served the Wheatbelt region.
Watco Australia is a rail haulage operator that was formed in 2010 to haul grain for the CBH Group in Western Australia. In 2019, it commenced operating in Queensland under a contract with GrainCorp. It is a subsidiary of Watco.
Avon Yard is a railway yard west of Northam, Western Australia. It lies on the southern side of the Avon River on the Eastern Railway between Toodyay and Northam.
The Public Transport Centre is a terminal and administration building for public transport in Perth, Western Australia. It is the centerpiece of East Perth Terminal, a standard gauge railway station and coach terminal adjacent to East Perth station on the Transperth narrow gauge suburban rail network.