CBH Group to start work on rapid rail and outloading upgrades at Cranbrook and Konnongorring

Loading times at CBH Group’s Cranbrook and Konnongorring grain bins are set to be slashed dramatically, with work scheduled to begin in April on new rapid rail and outloading upgrades. The grain handler on Friday announced it had awarded key contracts for the two projects, which are part of $400 million worth of grain rail upgrades at 11 CBH sites across WA. Laing O’Rourke’s Australian division has been tasked with constructing a rail siding extension and new rapid rail loading facility at Cranbrook, 326km south-east of Perth in the Great Southern. The existing rail siding will be extended from 995m to 2000m in length — of which 395m will also be realigned — and complemented with a new 6600-tonne fixed rail loading facility. It currently takes about seven hours to load 60 wagons at Cranbrook, which includes multiple shunts that disrupt the mainline and impact level crossings. Once complete, a 60-wagon train will be able to be loaded in about four hours — free of level crossings and without disrupting the main line. At Konnongorring, 160km north-east of Perth in the Wheatbelt, a new rail siding will be constructed which will transform the site from a predominantly road transport site to a rail and road site, taking trucks off the road. It currently takes about 14 hours to load a 52-wagon train using the existing infrastructure at Konnongorring. With the siding, as well as “future facility construction works”, this time will be reduced to about four hours according to CBH. Gamuda Group of Companies’ DT Infrastructure has been contracted for the Konnongorring project. Work on both projects is scheduled to begin in April, starting with site establishment, fencing, clearing and earthworks. The Konnongorring project is expected to be completed in the December quarter of this year, while the Cranbrook project should be finished in the September quarter of 2025. CBH chief project delivery officer Sam Gliddon said it was part of CBH’s $4 billion investment in the network over the next 10 years. “Starting these rapid rail and outloading projects is a major achievement and a testament to the hard work many of our colleagues across all divisions at CBH have put in to get these projects designed, approved and under way,” he said. “Improving the outloading capabilities of WA’s grain supply chain is a major focus for CBH, and we are proud to invest in fixed rail loading infrastructure alongside the WA and Federal Governments’ investment in new or extended rail sidings. “These projects will enable CBH to move grain more efficiently to port, especially in the first half of the calendar year, maximising the value to WA growers today, and future generations.” Government funding is being provided under the Agricultural Supply Chain Improvements (ASCI) Program, a joint initiative between State and Commonwealth governments to deliver supply chain efficiencies through rail freight infrastructure upgrades. Some $68m of government funding has been committed for CBH’s 11 rail siding upgrades, which began with works at Broomehill and Moora last year. “The Broomehill rapid rail and outloading project is progressing well (expected to be complete in mid-2024) and the Brookton rail siding extension was finished in August last year ahead of schedule and under budget,” a CBH spokesman said. Mr Gliddon said the consecutive record harvests of 2021-22 and 2022-23 demonstrated the need to continually improve the export capacity of the network, to ensure CBH could move more tonnes to port to meet market demand. “Improving our outloading infrastructure, especially through rail upgrades, is critical for us to achieve our ‘Path to 2033’ strategic objective of exporting at a peak of 3 million tonnes per month by 2033,” he said.