FreightCorp

FreightCorp

44240 at Broadmeadow Locomotive Depot
State-owned corporation overview
Formed16 January 1989
Preceding State-owned corporation
Dissolved31 January 2002
Superseding State-owned corporation
JurisdictionNew South Wales
HeadquartersParramatta
Minister responsible
Parent State-owned corporationState Rail Authority
Key document
  • Transport Administration Act 1988 (NSW)

FreightCorp, formally Freight Rail, was a railway operator owned by the Government of New South Wales. It was responsible for intrastate and some interstate railway cargo handling from its foundation in January 1989 until it was privatised in August 2002.

History

FreightCorp liveried 82 class locomotives at Port Augusta in December 2006

In January 1989, the freight operations of the State Rail Authority were transferred to Freight Rail pursuant to the Transport Administration Act 1988 (NSW).[1]

On 1 July 1996, Freight Rail was corporatised.[2][3] On 24 October 1996, Freight Rail was relaunched as FreightCorp.[4]

On 1 February 2002, along with National Rail, FreightCorp was sold to a joint venture between Patrick Corporation and Toll Holdings as Pacific National.[5][6]

Operations

When established in 1989, Freight Rail was responsible for the operation of all rail freight services in New South Wales. It was also responsible for providing locomotives to haul passenger services for CityRail and CountryLink. Following the opening up of the New South Wales network to other operators, it began to face competition from other operators. Interstate services were transferred to National Rail in the mid-1990s. In 1999, it began to operate coal trains in South Australia on the Leigh Creek to Stirling North line to the Northern Power Station, Port Augusta.[7]

Fleet

Freight Rail inherited all of the State Rail Authority's locomotive fleet. In February 1992, it awarded contracts for fifty-eight 82 class and twenty-nine 90 class locomotives. These allowed it to withdraw most of the 422, 44, 442, 45 and 49 class locomotives. After experimenting with a green and yellow livery, a dark blue, yellow and white livery was introduced in 1991.

References

  1. ^ Freight Rail Archived 2 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine New South Wales State Records
  2. ^ "Freight Rail Corporation's Organisational Structure" Railway Digest September 1996 page 10
  3. ^ FreightCorp Archived 22 February 2014 at the Wayback Machine New South Wales State Records
  4. ^ "FreightCorp Launched" Railway Digest November 1996 page 7
  5. ^ "FreightCorp for sale with National Rail" Railway Digest October 2000 page 17
  6. ^ Freightcorp and National Rail Corporation sold to National Rail Consortium for one billion dollars ABC News 31 January 2002
  7. ^ "Freight Carriers Move into New Markets" Railway Digest January 1999 page 9