Freight Australia - Fleet

Fleet

Included in the purchase of V/Line Freight was 107 diesel locomotives and more than 2,800 freight wagons, which had been owned and operated by the Victorian Railways and their successors. The newest and most powerful locomotives were the 3,300 hp G class delivered from 1984, but other locomotives dated as far back as the 1950s.

With traffic growing Freight Victoria decided to replace the prime movers in number of the G class, increasing the power output to 3,800 hp. The older X class diesels also saw a more extensive power upgrade program, being stripped to the frame and rebuilt as the XR class. The company only purchased a single new locomotive, V544 which was built new in 2002 to replace two written off locomotives. Additional rollingstock was also acquired, including new 100 tonne capacity grain hoppers built by Alstom at the Ballarat North Workshops, second hand grain hoppers from New South Wales, and the conversion of surplus vans into log and container flats.

With the acquisition of the company by Pacific National so did the entire fleet, with the exception of two G class and two X class locomotives which were transferred to Freight Australia customer CRT Group, who had in their contract a condition that if FA was acquired by a competitor of CRT Group, 10,000 hp (7,500 kW) of locomotive power (calculated by the business CRT Group was offering FA) was to be transferred to them.