WA’s grain on rail fleet bolstered by first Aurizon train as CBH battles to shift record 21.3Mt harvest

CBH has had some pain relief for its supply chain headache with the arrival of the first of three train fleets from Aurizon, the ASX-listed logistics juggernaut newly tasked with WA’s grain-on-rail haul. The co-operative’s operations officer Mick Daw confirmed the inaugural narrow gauge fleet of Aurizon’s bright yellow trains had been deployed to CBH’s Kwinana Zone on schedule this month. The first train will be tasked with moving the grain from CBH grain receival sites in the traditionally high-production Kwinana North and Kwinana South areas to the Kwinana Grain Terminal, where about six million tonnes of grain is shipped from each year. Aurizon Bulk general manager Anna Dartnell said the second and third fleets, destined for the Kwinana Zone and Esperance Port Zone respectively, would be on track through a “staged introduction” next month. The standard gauge fleet in the Esperance Port Zone will move grain along the West Kalgoorlie to Esperance railway to the Esperance Port — giving farmers in the area access to rail for the first time since 2018. Ms Dartnell said its fleets typically included two locomotives and 60 wagons and would be deployed to “best meet grower demand and maximise throughput”. “The additional trains . . . effectively results in a 30 per cent uplift in rail capacity for growers, when we add them to the existing 10 CBH-owned fleets,” she said. “The additional trains are sourced from Aurizon’s existing fleet and demonstrate Aurizon’s advantage in having a large, flexible and interchangeable fleet across a national footprint.” Mr Daw said CBH was working closely with Aurizon to “maximise the tonnes” on the rail network. “We are pleased to have the first of three Aurizon fleets here and onboarded to complement CBH’s existing 10 rail fleets,” he said. “The fleets will be positioned according to outloading preference and initially, two are going to be deployed in the Kwinana Port Zone. Another fleet will be placed in the Esperance Port Zone, providing a welcome uplift in our export activities.” Aurizon seized CBH’s grain-on-rail contract from US company WATCO late last year, in a deal rumoured to be worth $30 million. The long-term rail haulage and maintenance contract was designed to cover all rail requirements for CBH’s grain harvests, with an initial term of six years and option to extend to 10 years. All of the trains carting grain from CBH’s upcountry sites to port have been driven by Aurizon since November, when it finished a three-month transition period with US transport group WATCO. This includes the 10 fleets of CBH-owned and branded trains, which includes 28 locomotives and 574 wagons it purchased for the first time in 2011. Aurizon has imported more than 20 drivers from the Eastern States to man the trains, with Ms Dartnell telling growers at the CBH annual general meeting the recruitment had “gone well” but been impacted by WA’s hard border. She said COVID-19 travel restrictions hampered the ASX-listed company’s efforts to “rapidly relocate some Aurizon east coast train crew” to WA, and it was working hard to “unlock capability from within” its broader operations. Aurizon will maintain its own fleets and the CBH fleets, with plans to reopen its Avon and Wagin depots for the first time in nearly a decade and upgrade existing depots. This includes operations and maintenance depots at Narngulu east and west, Avon, Esperance, and Albany, as well as operations-only depots at Kwinana, west Merredin and Wagin, and a maintenance-only operation at Forrestfield. The Avon site — a large, dual gauge transfer centre near CBH’s Avon bins — will become Aurizon’s primary maintenance hub for trains involved in the CBH deal.