CFCL Australia

Last updated

CFCL Australia
IndustryRail Asset Leasing
FoundedNovember 1998
Headquarters
Key people
Pat Reid (CEO), Peter Edwards (COO), Terry King (BD), Matthew Roberts (Rollingstock Ops)
Parent CF Asia Pacific
Subsidiaries CFCLA Maintenance
Website www.cfcla.com.au

CFCL Australia (CFCLA) is an Australian locomotive and rolling stock leasing company operating in the rail freight market. CFCLA leases assets to a number of private rail operators in the local rail industry, predominantly on the defined standard gauge interstate network.

Contents

Though primarily based in New South Wales, CFCLA’s assets can be found operating in most Australian states and with all major train operating companies. It has rolling stock on both long term lease to these companies as well as assets that are available for spot hire. It is owned by Chicago Freight Car Leasing Company and Marubeni Corporation

History

EL class locomotives in January 2007 CFCLA-EL-classes.jpg
EL class locomotives in January 2007
S311 leading CFCLA grain hoppers on an El Zorro operated train near Meredith in January 2008 El-zorro-broad-gauge grain.jpg
S311 leading CFCLA grain hoppers on an El Zorro operated train near Meredith in January 2008

CFCL Australia was established in 1998, by the American Chicago Freight Car Leasing Company. Its first contract was for the supply of a small fleet of radio controlled, automated ballast hoppers to Westrail.

The first locomotives acquired were 13 members of the EL class from Australian National in November 1998. [1] [2] In 2000, it diversified into wagons. [3]

In March 2009, the Marubeni Corporation purchased a 49% stake in CFCLA. [4] In November 2012, CFCLA unveiled its first infrastructure train in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. [5] As at October 2014, it had locomotives operating construction trains on the Roy Hill line and on the Hamersley & Robe River railway. [6]

Marubeni relinquished its stake in CFCLA in 2016 and moving to 15% stake in CF Asia Pacific. As of January 2020 Marubeni holds no interest in either entity.

In January 2020 ownership moved from SFH to ACP.

CFCLA Maintenance previously CF Rail Services

CF Rail Services logo CFRail PMS 3C.jpg
CF Rail Services logo

In September 2010, CFCLA took out a lease on the Goulburn Railway Workshops to maintain both its locomotive and wagon fleets with the facility named the Australian Horse Power Service Centre. [7] [8] [9] As well as maintaining its own fleet, Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia also perform maintenance for other operators including Qube Logistics. It also maintains locomotives at Islington Railway Workshops in Adelaide.

CF Rail Services was established in 2013, bringing together the Australian Horse Power Service Centre and took over Bluebird Rail Operations engineering business at Islington. [10]

The CF Rail Services name was dropped in 2017 to consolidate the name as CFCLA.

Fleet

Initially, the CFCLA locomotive fleet comprised second-hand locomotives no longer required by rail operators or re-manufactured units that had been given life-extending overhauls. More recently it has purchased new locomotives

The CFCLA diesel locomotive fleet is made up of a variety of different classes of units, ranging from modern high power units to older mainline locomotives, and smaller branch line and shunting units. [11] As at October 2019, it comprised 78 locomotives.

ClassImageTypeGaugeTop speed
(km/h)
NumberNotes
EL class CFCLA-EL-classes.jpg Diesel-electric Standard 11513ex Australian National
44 Class CFCLA-44class-4471.jpg Diesel-electric Standard 1151Ex FreightCorp. Stored.
GL Class Diesel-electric Standard 11512rebuilt ex FreightCorp 442 class
442 class Diesel-electric Standard 1152Sold to Manildra Group
500 class Diesel-electric Standard 651ex South Australian Railways
B class Cfcla-b-class-melbourne.jpg Diesel-electricBroad1152ex V/Line via various operators
C class CFCLA GT26C C502 AT NCIG Kooragang.jpg Diesel-electricStandard1153ex V/Line via various operators
S class El-zorro-broad-gauge grain.jpg Diesel-electricBroad1152Since disposed of
T class T373 CFCLA.JPG Diesel-electricBroad1004ex V/Line via various operators
G class G515MaryvaleFlinders.jpg Diesel-electricBroad1153ex V/Line via various operators
TL class Diesel-electricStandard1001ex Kowloon-Canton Railway
CD Class Diesel-electricStandard906ex Robe River Iron Associates
VL class CFCLA-VL-class-VL355.jpg Diesel-electricStandard11512New build
CF class Diesel-electricStandard11510Named CF4412 Original 10 Black Caviar painted in black & pink livery
CM class Diesel-electricStandard11516New build

Most locomotives in the fleet are named after famous Australian racehorses.

The CFCLA fleet also comprises over 1,700 freight wagons of a variety of types including ballast hoppers, grain hoppers, bulk mineral hoppers, and intermodal flat wagons of varying lengths and carrying capabilities. CFCLA wagons generally have four-character identification codes starting with the letter C. [12]

Related Research Articles

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Southern Shorthaul Railroad

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Australian Transport Network

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New South Wales 422 class locomotive

The 422 class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville for the Department of Railways New South Wales in 1969/70.

New South Wales 442 class locomotive

The 442 class are a class of diesel locomotives built by AE Goodwin and Comeng, Auburn for the New South Wales Department of Railways between 1970 and 1973.

SCT Logistics

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El Zorro (railway)

El Zorro was an Australian railway operator hauling freight and infrastructure trains in Victoria and New South Wales that ceased trading on 4 June 2013. It was a private company founded in 1999 by Ray Evans who has a taste for things Spanish, El Zorro being Spanish for the fox. At the time of liquidation, the company had two shareholders: director Ray Evans, and ex-director Lisa Trezise. Geoff Tighe, a co-founder and past shareholder and director, was formerly chief executive of Great Northern Rail Services, a now defunct operator which provided locomotives and crews to other operators in Victoria until November 2002.

Great Northern Rail Services

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Victorian Railways C class (diesel)

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V/Line G class

The G Class are a class of diesel locomotive built by Clyde Engineering, Rosewater and Somerton for V/Line between 1984 and 1989.

Australian National EL class

The EL class are a class of diesel locomotives built by A Goninan & Co, Broadmeadow for Australian National in 1990-1991.

Ballarat North Workshops

Ballarat North Workshops is a railway systems engineering facility located in the provincial city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. They are located in the suburb of Soldiers Hill on Creswick Road, and occupy 5.5 hectares of land beside the junction of the Mildura and Serviceton railway lines.

New South Wales 73 class locomotive

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The Chicago Freight Car Leasing Company provides railcar leasing and management to companies throughout North America for a variety of commodities, including agricultural & food products; chemical & processed mineral products; metals, ores, aggregates, mineral rock/stone, and petroleum products. Chicago Freight Car Leasing is a subsidiary of Sasser Family Holdings, Inc.. Other related companies under Sasser Family Holdings include Union Leasing, CF Asia Pacific, CFCL Australia, CF Rail Services, and NxGen Rail.

MPI MP33C

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Junee Railway Workshop

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GML10 is a diesel-electric locomotive built by Clyde Engineering, Kelso for the Goldsworthy Mining Company in 1990.

NREC RL class locomotive Class of 9 Australian diesel-electric locomotives

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Goulburn Rail Heritage Centre Railway museum

The Goulburn Rail Heritage Centre are heritage-listed former railway workshops and now museum located on the Main Southern line in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia. It is also known as the Goulburn Rail Workshop and the Goulburn Roundhouse. The workshops were added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999. The workshops were saved from demolition by the Goulburn Locomotive Roundhouse Preservation Society and is now a museum open to the public with large collection of rolling stock and various exhibits, as well as privately owned locomotives and carriages.

References

  1. Oberg, Leon (2007). Locomotives of Australia: 1850s - 2007. Rosenberg Publishing. p. 9. ISBN   1-877058-54-8.
  2. "ELs Sold to US Bidder". Railway Digest. December 1998. p. 12.
  3. "CFCLA Wagon Expansion". Railway Digest. June 2000. p. 13.
  4. "Joint Venture". CFCLA. Archived from the original on 2 March 2019.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  5. "Trainsets 2013-2014" (PDF). CFCL Australia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 March 2019.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  6. "Australia Wide Fleet List". Motive Power. No. 96. November 2014. pp. 66–67.
  7. Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia (2 September 2010). "Bright Future for Goulburn Railway Workshops" (PDF) (Press release). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 April 2018.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  8. Oberg, Leon (12 June 2012). "Workshops roll ahead". Goulburn Post.
  9. "Born in Chicago". Railway Digest. November 2012. p. 34.
  10. "History". CF Rail Services. Archived from the original on 26 May 2015.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  11. "Locomotives". Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia. Archived from the original on 17 February 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  12. "Wagons". CFCL Australia. Archived from the original on 18 February 2020.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)