Pacific National - Operations

Operations

Operating in all states and the Northern Territory, the company operates some 1,000 locomotives and 10,200 wagons over 100 different sites. Services include bulk freight (coal, grain, steel, ores), intermodal containers (domestic and export), and specialised services such as 'hook and pull' for long-distance passenger trains.

Pacific National has five separate operating divisions, which operate as separate companies for accounting reasons, and often do not share locomotives with other divisions. The divisions are:

  • Bulk Rail (Formerly Rural and Bulk): born out of the former FreightCorp and Freight Australia companies, major traffic include grain, fuel, agricultural products, and cement. Trains run on both standard and broad gauge.
  • Intermodal: operates intermodal freight and steel trains on the interstate standard gauge network. Formed from the merger of the National Rail Corporation, Toll and Patrick Rail, FreightCorp, ATN and Freight Australia.
  • Coal: transport of export coal on the New South Wales Hunter Valley Coal Chain.
  • Queensland: intermodal freight and export coal on the narrow gauge network of Queensland, in competition with incumbent Queensland Rail.
  • PNR, see below.

The Pacific National steel contract was renewed with BlueScope Steel and OneSteel in 2006 for $1bn, making it the largest ever freight rail contract in Australia. The deal involves haulage of about 3 million tonnes of steel over seven years. Pacific National has intermodal freight facilities at the Brisbane Freight Terminal in Queensland, the Melbourne Freight Terminal in Victoria, the Sydney Freight Terminal in New South Wales, and the Kewdale Freight Terminal in Western Australia.

In 2010, the company deployed the planning and management systems of SolveIT Software to control their production systems, including distribution. In 2011, Pacific National merged the divisions of Intermodal and Bulk Rail to form the new division of Pacific National Rail. This new division, referred to as PNR, has slowly seen the combining of management and training structures. As of May 2012, each division still lists its own separate revenue and loss making figures.

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