Downer Rail

Downer Rail

Industry	Engineering
Predecessor	Evans Deakin Industries
Founded	March 2001
Headquarters	North Ryde, New South Wales
Number of locations	Cardiff, New South Wales Somerton, Victoria Maryborough, Queensland
Products	Railway rolling stock
Services	Rail Infrastructure management Railway locomotive leasing
Revenue	$1.336 billion (June 2013)
Parent	Downer Group
Subsidiaries	Keolis Downer (49%) Locomotive Demand Power
Website	www.downergroup.com

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.

History

Pacific National GT42CU AC at Maryborough factory in November 2004

Sydney Trains A set

Transperth B-series train at McIver in February 2010

Yarra Trams B-class Melbourne tram in Melbourne

The EDI Rail division was formed in March 2001 following the merger of Evans Deakin Industries and Downer Group to form Downer EDi. In July 2007 the division was renamed Downer Rail and in 2018 it merged with Downer's Infrastructure Services division to form Transport and Infrastructure.^[1][2]

The history of Downer Rail began in 1867 when Walkers Limited opened a branch in Maryborough.^[3] In 1980 Walkers Limited was sold to Evans Deakin Industries and included in the merger with Downer EDi.

Evans Deakin operated the former Clyde Engineering plants at Kelso and Somerton and Walkers Limited, Maryborough plant. It had recently reopened the former Cardiff Locomotive Workshops to build CityRail M sets.

In 2008 Locomotive Demand Power was established as a subsidiary to lease locomotives. In November 2009 Downer Rail became a tram operator through its 49% shareholding in Keolis Downer that operates the Yarra Trams franchise in Melbourne.^[4] In July 2014, Keolis Downer commenced operating the G:link light rail line on the Gold Coast.^[5]

In March 2015, Keolis Downer purchased bus operator Australian Transit Enterprises which operates the Hornibrook Bus Lines, Link SA, Path Transit and SouthLink operations with 930 buses.^[6]

Products

Downer Rail has manufactured items of rolling stock at its factories in Cardiff, Somerton, Maryborough and Port Augusta. As the ex-licence holder for Electro-Motive Diesel products^[7] it has also been involved in the procurement and maintenance of over 150 American built EMD SD70 series locomotives for BHP and Fortescue Metals Group's Pilbara operations.^[8][9]

Diesel Locomotives

• GT42CU AC – 62 built at Maryborough for Pacific National and QR National
• GT42CU ACe – 131 built at Maryborough for Genesee & Wyoming Australia, Locomotive Demand Power, Pacific National and QR National
• GT46C – 5 built at Port Augusta and Somerton for Westrail, FreightLink and Freight Australia
• GT46C ACe – 76 built at Cardiff for Genesee & Wyoming Australia, Pacific National, QR National, SCT Logistics, Southern Shorthaul Railroad and Whitehaven Coal

Electric Multiple Units

• Sydney Trains M sets – 141 carriages built at Cardiff
• Sydney Trains A sets – 626 carriages built at Cardiff
• Sydney Trains B sets – 328 carriages originally manufactured by CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles in China
• QR Interurban Multiple Unit 160 series – 84 carriages built at Maryborough
• QR Suburban Multiple Unit 260 series – 114 carriages built at Maryborough
• Transperth B series – 234 carriages built at Maryborough
• High Capacity Metro Trains – 455 carriages assembled by Downer at Newport Workshops. Carriage shell and other selected components are built in Changchun, China by CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles.^[10]

Tilt Trains

• Diesel Tilt Train – 6 power cars and 32 carriages built at Maryborough

Services

Locomotive leasing

• Locomotive Demand Power is a subsidiary offering locomotives for lease. As at January 2014 thirteen standard gauge GT46s and six narrow gauge GT42s had been built at Cardiff and Maryborough respectively with nine of the former leased to Aurizon.^[11]

Light rail

• 49% shareholding in Keolis Downer joint venture with Keolis, trading as Yarra Trams, that has operated the Melbourne tram network since November 2009^[12] and the G:link light rail network since July 2014.^[13]

Infrastructure projects

• Northern Sydney Freight Corridor built two loops north of Gosford in 2014^[14]

Maintenance contracts

• Australian Rail Track Corporation contract to maintain 2,000 kilometres of track in New South Wales and Victoria^[15]
• Leigh Creek line maintenance contract until 2017^[16]
• 50% shareholding in a joint venture with Bombardier Transportation to maintain the A-series, B-series and Transwa Australind trains for the Public Transport Authority until June 2019^[17]
• 10-year contract to maintain 300 locomotives for 10 years from February 2015 for Pacific National^[18][19]
• 25-year contract to maintain B sets for Sydney Trains^[20]

References

1. Downer EDI launches new company names and branding approach Downer EDi 2 July 2007
2. https://www.downergroup.com/Content/cms/media/2018/PDF/Webcasts_and_presentations/DOW0038_Investor_Day_Presentation_FA_lower_res_combine.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
3. West, AM (1994). Made in Maryborough. Brisbane: Australian Railway Historical Society, Queensland Division.
4. Melbourne tram and train operators selected Archived 15 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine Railway Gazette International 25 June 2009
5. GoldlinQ selected to build Gold Coast light rail Archived 12 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine Railway Gazette International 6 May 2011
6. Operator ATE Sold Australasian Bus & Coach 11 March 2015
7. Downer and Electro-Motive Diesel Sign New Agreement Archived 7 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine Downer EDi 26 June 2012
8. Manufacturers EMD Export Page
9. BHP Iron Ore Road Locomotive Roster Index Archived 8 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine Pilbara Railway Pages
10. Loneragan, David (14 June 2018). "New high capacity trains being assembled in Melbourne". Rail Express. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
11. Downer EDI secures $45 million locomotives deal with QR Archived 7 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine Downer EDi 11 December 2008
12. New train, tram operators for Melbourne The Age 25 June 2009
13. Keolis consortium selected for Gold Coast Light Rail in Australia Archived 7 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine Keolis May 2011
14. Downer wins NSW rail contract despite Waratah debacle ABC News 22 January 2013
15. Rail infrastructure construction and maintenance Vic and NSW Interstate Network Archived 7 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine Downer Rail
16. Leigh Creek Line Alliance Maintenance Flinders Power Pty Ltd (1999–2017)^{[permanent dead link‍]} Downer Rail
17. Downer Bombardier Secures Maintenance Contract with Western Australia's Public Transport Authority Archived 7 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine Downer EDi 25 July 2011
18. Downer EDI and Pacific National sign billion dollar rail deal ABC News 3 February 2015
19. Downer signs Locomotive Maintenance Agreement with Pacific National Archived 27 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine Downer Group 4 February 2015
20. O'Sullivan, Matt (1 December 2016). "$1.7 billion in new Waratah trains for Sydney commuter network". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 May 2018.

External links

• Company website