Australasian Transport News

SCT girds for rail initiative with Bromelton terminal
23/11/16


Intermodal firm eyes North-South Rail Corridor with latest facility
The Bromelton facility under construction.
SCT aims to run its first train service from Melbourne to its newly developed Bromelton
Intermodal Estate in January.
Bromelton’s completion will mark ‘the final piece of the puzzle" for SCT’s entry onto the
North-South Rail Corridor, it says.
Expected to have a capacity of 1.3 million tonnes of freight a year, the $30 million rail
terminal is south of Brisbane and connects directly into the existing standard gauge Interstate
rail line.
"Whilst the North South corridor continues to be dominated by the road industry, we’re
confident that our approach to this particular corridor complemented by SCT’s unique rail
model, will allow us to provide a strong and unique value proposition to the market" SCT
Logistics CEO Glenn Smith says.

"Our new Queensland facility will also allow us to expand our business in key regional areas
such as Wodonga, whilst enhancing our capabilities on the Melbourne to Brisbane and
Adelaide to Brisbane rail corridor will provide competitive and flexible rail solutions to
customers going into and out of the state".

Whilst already servicing the Brisbane market, the company reckons its own independent rail
services will broaden its service offering and provide customers with the opportunity to
utilise its integrated rail network and expanded national footprint.

"This major investment will allow SCT to run a number of weekly services into and out of
Brisbane, connecting businesses from Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria
directly into the Queensland market", SCT says.
The 134ha site features a 10,500 square metre cross dock terminal, a 5,000sqm container
handling area and more than 7.3km of internal rail track.
As with other SCT Intermodal developments, Bromelton is open to tenants and customers to
locate their facilities on a major rail head.
SCT sees its Wodonga Rail Terminal at Logic Park, playing a significant role; in developing
SCT’s Queensland rail services.

The Wodonga terminal will connect customers of regional Victoria to Queensland, South
Australia and WA.

That facility ran its first official train on October 13 and now runs several services a week
between Wodonga, South Australia and Western Australia.

Both the Brisbane and Wodonga Terminals will officially celebrate their openings in early
next year.

SCT has gained strong backing for Bromelton from Federal MP for Wright Scott Buchholz
and Scenic Rim Regional Council for the development 6km from Beaudesert on the
Beaudesert-Boonah Road, which gained $9.6 million in federal National Stronger Regions
Fund cash last year.

"The council insists the terminal will draw other major companies to the region, create jobs
and drive major economic growth in Brisbane’s Southern Region" and Buchholz has said the
SCT freight terminal is "a game-changer for freight and logistics in south-east Queensland"

https://www.railpage.com.au/news/s/sct-girds-for-rail-initiative-with-bromelton-terminal

Australasian Transport News

SCT girds for rail initiative with Bromelton terminal
23/11/16


Intermodal firm eyes North-South Rail Corridor with latest facility
The Bromelton facility under construction.
SCT aims to run its first train service from Melbourne to its newly developed Bromelton
Intermodal Estate in January.
Bromelton’s completion will mark ‘the final piece of the puzzle" for SCT’s entry onto the
North-South Rail Corridor, it says.
Expected to have a capacity of 1.3 million tonnes of freight a year, the $30 million rail
terminal is south of Brisbane and connects directly into the existing standard gauge Interstate
rail line.
"Whilst the North South corridor continues to be dominated by the road industry, we’re
confident that our approach to this particular corridor complemented by SCT’s unique rail
model, will allow us to provide a strong and unique value proposition to the market" SCT
Logistics CEO Glenn Smith says.

"Our new Queensland facility will also allow us to expand our business in key regional areas
such as Wodonga, whilst enhancing our capabilities on the Melbourne to Brisbane and
Adelaide to Brisbane rail corridor will provide competitive and flexible rail solutions to
customers going into and out of the state".

Whilst already servicing the Brisbane market, the company reckons its own independent rail
services will broaden its service offering and provide customers with the opportunity to
utilise its integrated rail network and expanded national footprint.

"This major investment will allow SCT to run a number of weekly services into and out of
Brisbane, connecting businesses from Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria
directly into the Queensland market", SCT says.
The 134ha site features a 10,500 square metre cross dock terminal, a 5,000sqm container
handling area and more than 7.3km of internal rail track.
As with other SCT Intermodal developments, Bromelton is open to tenants and customers to
locate their facilities on a major rail head.
SCT sees its Wodonga Rail Terminal at Logic Park, playing a significant role; in developing
SCT’s Queensland rail services.

The Wodonga terminal will connect customers of regional Victoria to Queensland, South
Australia and WA.

That facility ran its first official train on October 13 and now runs several services a week
between Wodonga, South Australia and Western Australia.

Both the Brisbane and Wodonga Terminals will officially celebrate their openings in early
next year.

SCT has gained strong backing for Bromelton from Federal MP for Wright Scott Buchholz
and Scenic Rim Regional Council for the development 6km from Beaudesert on the
Beaudesert-Boonah Road, which gained $9.6 million in federal National Stronger Regions
Fund cash last year.

"The council insists the terminal will draw other major companies to the region, create jobs
and drive major economic growth in Brisbane’s Southern Region" and Buchholz has said the
SCT freight terminal is "a game-changer for freight and logistics in south-east Queensland"

And the best of good luck and good fortune to SCT!
It's about time someone put a rocket up the other mobs on this route.

Isn't it nice to see a company with some "get up and go" forging into markets that the others tried to walk away from years ago.

And a bonus for all you east coast shutter bugs to see the SCT and CSR classes plying the east coast rails

Isn't it nice to see a company with some "get up and go" forging into markets that the others tried to walk away from years ago.

And a bonus for all you east coast shutter bugs to see the SCT and CSR classes plying the east coast rails

Yes it is great.
It has been donkey's years since anyone with any 'get up and go' got into intercapital rail.
Good luck to SCT and their clients with this new venture.

And in related news:
https://www.railpage.com.au/news/s/bromelton-buy-reflects-shift-to-rail-hub-future

ARTC has bought an adjacent site in Bromelton. Might be looking at a future where ARTC takes a more proactive role in developing rail freight terminals to drum up business for their network... or maybe a staging site for the Main Range Crossing section of Inland Rail too.

And in related news:
https://www.railpage.com.au/news/s/bromelton-buy-reflects-shift-to-rail-hub-future

ARTC has bought an adjacent site in Bromelton. Might be looking at a future where ARTC takes a more proactive role in developing rail freight terminals to drum up business for their network... or maybe a staging site for the Main Range Crossing section of Inland Rail too.

Its very interesting news with both these hubs being built at Bromelton. I say that owing to the thread What's the point of the NCL https://www.railpage.com.au/f-t11385240.htm. Given that there has been some good debate especially once the Inland rail is in operation, that the NCL may well be redundant to use especially as an ARTC line on that thread, one must wonder why build on the NCL at Bromelton.

From my perspective, a lot of the direct Brisbane - Melbourne, SA and WA traffic will no doubt be on the Inland route, what is certain is that the amount of freight that goes between Sydney - Brisbane and visa versa will still be on the NCL, in fact the way I am reading this information along with signs that other freight operators are realising that coal production while still being a major force in the rail task, that they need to be looking elsewhere to get new businesses rather than just fight each other for current contracts when they come up for renewal.

The aspect that Qube is broadening their scope along with ARTC to me shows a move is underway to shore up business from both old and lost tasks and new business tasks as well.  Rail I believe can be more competitive in this area with container traffic of what is essentially full destination containers, that are a roll on from trucks at hubs onto rail and then at destinations, the containers are rolled off to road for final delivery. The older concept of shunting and the like, along with delivery to and from clients was much more intense not so these days, one would like to think.

Given that there has been some good debate especially once the Inland rail is in operation, that the NCL may well be redundant to use especially as an ARTC line on that thread, one must wonder why build on the NCL at Bromelton.

Bromelton isn't that far south of Kagaru, which is where ARTC envisions the Inland Rail line linking up with the NCL into Brisbane. So it's not that much of a detour. Operators running MB/BM trains will likely only go to one terminal only, so going south isn't that bad. Port-Rail shuttles could service all terminals by going only along the NCL, so even that isn't a huge deal and could solve any shunting issues at the same time.

Also, Bromelton is a good location to capture traffic destined & originating from both Brisbane and the Gold Coast via road.

Given that there has been some good debate especially once the Inland rail is in operation, that the NCL may well be redundant to use especially as an ARTC line on that thread, one must wonder why build on the NCL at Bromelton.

Bromelton isn't that far south of Kagaru, which is where ARTC envisions the Inland Rail line linking up with the NCL into Brisbane. So it's not that much of a detour. Operators running MB/BM trains will likely only go to one terminal only, so going south isn't that bad. Port-Rail shuttles could service all terminals by going only along the NCL, so even that isn't a huge deal and could solve any shunting issues at the same time.

Also, Bromelton is a good location to capture traffic destined & originating from both Brisbane and the Gold Coast via road.

I see Bromelton is a pretty fair location especially the way the reports are saying, I have no doubt that the direct MB/BM traffic along with other states services will be direct via the IRL, but certainly the NCL will be the primary line for the BS/SB traffic, which I expect the various rail operators will try and capture more of, and as I said hopefully not just trying to compete for the same contracts.

Thing is how many terminals will end up being constructed? if each of the operators have their own, it means 4 including the Qube and ARTC hubs plus Aurizon and PN, will they likely use the ones closer in to Brisbane?

The mention of Kagaru as the IRL junction where does it come down from?  The most direct route would be a new line from Warwick to Kagura rather than heading up to Toowoomba and down the range from there, meaning a reasonably long connecting line in order to avoid the Brisbane area. So far there is still a bit of debate about where the line will go from over the range.

Good luck to SCT on this new service

Yes it only needs a triangle at the future junction of Inland Rail for trains to proceed direct to both the SCT Terminal and lets call it the ARTC terminal in the future.   The interesting point of the article for me is that SCT on their own estimates are forecasting handling around 1.3 million tonnes per annum so that indicates to me they already have very clear views on what types of business they will target.

If you read the various threads you'll note I hold SCT in very high esteem because of their original underdog status when National Rail refused to handle covered wagon load traffic.   The other thing is how rail is genuinely integrated into their entire end to end logistics chain. QR National/Aurizon tried this by buying into a logistics provider (CRT) in Melbourne but that wasn't successful.  

Anyway I wish them well and another 1.3 million tonnes per annum rolling up and down the East Coast on rail can only be a good thing but I'm certain SCT won't stop there as they become even more established.

Yes it only needs a triangle at the future junction of Inland Rail for trains to proceed direct to both the SCT Terminal and lets call it the ARTC terminal in the future.   The interesting point of the article for me is that SCT on their own estimates are forecasting handling around 1.3 million tonnes per annum so that indicates to me they already have very clear views on what types of business they will target.

If you read the various threads you'll note I hold SCT in very high esteem because of their original underdog status when National Rail refused to handle covered wagon load traffic.   The other thing is how rail is genuinely integrated into their entire end to end logistics chain. QR National/Aurizon tried this by buying into a logistics provider (CRT) in Melbourne but that wasn't successful.  

Anyway I wish them well and another 1.3 million tonnes per annum rolling up and down the East Coast on rail can only be a good thing but I'm certain SCT won't stop there as they become even more established.

Some time back I welcomed other operators into the rail freight industry, especially as the big two generally were only interested in the big haul operations.  I thought then and still do that Aurizon and PN have a very narrow mind set as to what they will haul, and anything even on the edges of big train haulage would be wagged off their tails.  How interested are they really in the area of general freight? or more the point of working to get it?  As such I too welcome the move of SCT into the market and certainly hope they can increase the flow of traffic/business they are seeking, although I believe its possible to increase the numbers they are talking about.

There is a down train each day that runs through the central coast in the afternoon and has Aurizon loco's up front but a heck of a lot of SCT vans on it, the train is mostly full and would say its a full length load as well.  In respect to the IRL when it does get going, the traffic that is lost to the NCL may in fact benefit the coastal route by freeing up paths and allowing more of the SD/BS - BS/SD traffic to go on rail.  One can hope.

Isn't it nice to see a company with some "get up and go" forging into markets that the others tried to walk away from years ago.

And a bonus for all you east coast shutter bugs to see the SCT and CSR classes plying the east coast rails

Equally and in support of your comments @Pressman I also have other supportive views.  SCT is a private company who is focused, innovative and successful.  In my view they have been far more focused and have a can do attitude than their publically listed competitors which in itself is a worry.  Asciano became fat and lazy and lost focus on what the business was about. Customers and growing their marketshare.

SCT offer a service customers clearly want and need.  I take my hat off to them.

Finally, this is a great example of how important it is to prevent cartels and ensure there is a competitive landscape for which younger, smaller and more innovative companies can compete against the bigger lazy and public listed organisations in the same market.

Isn't it nice to see a company with some "get up and go" forging into markets that the others tried to walk away from years ago.

And a bonus for all you east coast shutter bugs to see the SCT and CSR classes plying the east coast rails

Equally and in support of your comments @Pressman I also have other supportive views.  SCT is a private company who is focused, innovative and successful.  In my view they have been far more focused and have a can do attitude than their publically listed competitors which in itself is a worry.  Asciano became fat and lazy and lost focus on what the business was about. Customers and growing their marketshare.

SCT offer a service customers clearly want and need.  I take my hat off to them.

Finally, this is a great example of how important it is to prevent cartels and ensure there is a competitive landscape for which younger, smaller and more innovative companies can compete against the bigger lazy and public listed organisations in the same market.

Bruce, SCT has basically become the focal point of this new or rekindled efforts in the rail industry.  Yet lets not forget others such as Cube, and even CRT who set up the Ettamogah hub and has served the industry well.

CRT has had problems in dealing with Aurizon in regards to the demands they place on picking up the traffic from Ettamogah. CRT are also to build a new Rail Hub near Griffith and what they are planning actually adds a lot to the future as well as to the prospects and more open ideas in rail transport.

What would be great is to see these smaller operators succeed big time, and rather than simply compete against each other form a co-operative of rail operators to provide wide services together.  Dream as I may but one could imagine and taking on the reported interview withe Widgella announcement that CRT or the new business name is looking at the U.S short haul systems that have taken on over there, meaning a CRT being the short haul operator to take the completed freight task to the main line with the long haul operators taking over.

The aspect of looking at the amount of business that is possible to be generated in the Riverina area could also be realistically found on the NCL as well. If one was to look at the population base of the main cities along the line, the smallest location is Casino with 11000 odd people, but nearby Lismore has around 30000, Kempsey is the next smallest with 11000.  Add the other large places such as Grafton, and Coffs Harbour with its closest rail sight at Wauchope has 69000 as its population, Taree with 28000 and the twin lakes area of Foster-Tuncurry adding anothing 14000 to the numbers shows a sad situation in regard to large areas that have no one interested in pursuing business back onto rail.

@a6et I agree with your comments.  Qube have done some great work but they have also grown not necessarily through building new markets on rail but taking business from other operators.  That is not innovation.

I am still waiting for a return call from CRT. No comment.

Can you provide more information on the issues with Aurizon?

@a6et I agree with your comments.  Qube have done some great work but they have also grown not necessarily through building new markets on rail but taking business from other operators.  That is not innovation.

I am still waiting for a return call from CRT. No comment.

Can you provide more information on the issues with Aurizon?

Bruce, when cube first started they appeared to be a company that was looking outside the main big two, but yes I believe they have drifted a bit from then. Sometimes it gets for easier working when like the water systems, which start from drops of rain, form creeks, and they run into streams, and as the water flows increase it all ends up in a river which is fed by more of the others and when the flow slows and a big water space, that arrives at the ocean points and is caught up in the tides. So maybe Cube has gone, what of SSR, and the brand it stood for? The sorrow of El Zorro as well.

What I understand is that the problem they were having was relating to the picking up of vehicles and the conditions put on them in regard to times and allowances, it could have been a combination of both rail forwarder and ARTC as to time allowances.  It may also have been rectified now though.

Possibly the blow flies didn't like the little bush flies getting involved.

Bruce, when cube first started they appeared to be a company that was looking outside the main big two, but yes I believe they have drifted a bit from then. Sometimes it gets for easier working when like the water systems, which start from drops of rain, form creeks, and they run into streams, and as the water flows increase it all ends up in a river which is fed by more of the others and when the flow slows and a big water space, that arrives at the ocean points and is caught up in the tides. So maybe Cube has gone, what of SSR, and the brand it stood for? The sorrow of El Zorro as well.

What I understand is that the problem they were having was relating to the picking up of vehicles and the conditions put on them in regard to times and allowances, it could have been a combination of both rail forwarder and ARTC as to time allowances.  It may also have been rectified now though.

Possibly the blow flies didn't like the little bush flies getting involved.

Let's just make up stuff as we go along eh?

QUBE (not Cube) largely run traffic that fits in with the overall supply chain. They are a logistics operator not a rail operator. Having said that they have picked up some more traditional rail traffic such a aggregates and grain. To suggest QUBE has 'drifted ' or 'gone' is an absolute nonsense - a lot of traffic is still on rail because of them.

What brand did SSR ever stand for? Here is another company that is getting more and more traffic back on rail, yet because the work they do doesn't fit their name they get dumped in your 'negative basket' - seriously?

The Ettomagh hub is regularly shunted by Pacific National trains, so I'm not sure why ARTC time slots are even being raised?

The mention of Kagaru as the IRL junction where does it come down from?  The most direct route would be a new line from Warwick to Kagura rather than heading up to Toowoomba and down the range from there, meaning a reasonably long connecting line in order to avoid the Brisbane area. So far there is still a bit of debate about where the line will go from over the range.

The Inland Rail line will go through Toowoomba.

It will leave the QR Western Line west of Ipswich and head down to Kagaru.
Part of the reason for this is to get QR coal trains away from the suburbs along the Brisbane River.
Apparently much of the entry from the south is to be through tunnels to give a connection to Fisherman Islands.

The official reason for going via Toowoomba is that the mountains around Warwick would increase construction costs more than going via Toowoomba, which I find hard to believe, given the existing line and its problems. And surely the long term costs of a much shorter route must add up in the long run.

M636C

Hansen quarry train was taken over from on and has not a thing to do with ports.

Hansen quarry train was taken over from on and has not a thing to do with ports.

?

Bruce, when cube first started they appeared to be a company that was looking outside the main big two, but yes I believe they have drifted a bit from then. Sometimes it gets for easier working when like the water systems, which start from drops of rain, form creeks, and they run into streams, and as the water flows increase it all ends up in a river which is fed by more of the others and when the flow slows and a big water space, that arrives at the ocean points and is caught up in the tides. So maybe Cube has gone, what of SSR, and the brand it stood for? The sorrow of El Zorro as well.

What I understand is that the problem they were having was relating to the picking up of vehicles and the conditions put on them in regard to times and allowances, it could have been a combination of both rail forwarder and ARTC as to time allowances.  It may also have been rectified now though.

Possibly the blow flies didn't like the little bush flies getting involved.

Let's just make up stuff as we go along eh?

QUBE (not Cube) largely run traffic that fits in with the overall supply chain. They are a logistics operator not a rail operator. Having said that they have picked up some more traditional rail traffic such a aggregates and grain. To suggest QUBE has 'drifted ' or 'gone' is an absolute nonsense - a lot of traffic is still on rail because of them.

What brand did SSR ever stand for? Here is another company that is getting more and more traffic back on rail, yet because the work they do doesn't fit their name they get dumped in your 'negative basket' - seriously?

The Ettomagh hub is regularly shunted by Pacific National trains, so I'm not sure why ARTC time slots are even being raised?

So you have now become the spell checker to do another pick on my posts.  So, Qube as you say, notice I purposely used mostly lower case, is not a rail operator???? What are those yellow and silver things at the front of the train? according to various sites Qube own 54 locomotives and hire  12 other locomotives.

They may call themselves a logistics company but its quite diversified as they also have ports and bulk amongst other areas of their business.

Again, seriously what have I said about SSR? and your negative comments in that regard. if one looks at the history of SSR, and where they are now, they are very much a different brand to what they were.  My point in what I have said is that SSR is as involved more in the same area of traffic that Aurizon and PN are in compared to their origins.

Ettamoga had deals with Aurizon and that could well have changed, point is that the information I was given is very much a reliable source.

Bing, seems to me you have become very much a lurker on RP these days ready to pounce on any little area of comments by others, often in areas you think you might know about. I don't comment in areas that I do not know about them, but if you care to read what I have said in an overall post, anything akin to negativity is a small part of whenever I say it. There are cases where to the outsider what I say is negative but I do make comments that may not be liked by you and others but when I do make such comments its based on what I do know and on experience.

The mention of Kagaru as the IRL junction where does it come down from?  The most direct route would be a new line from Warwick to Kagura rather than heading up to Toowoomba and down the range from there, meaning a reasonably long connecting line in order to avoid the Brisbane area. So far there is still a bit of debate about where the line will go from over the range.The Inland Rail line will go through Toowoomba.

It will leave the QR Western Line west of Ipswich and head down to Kagaru.
Part of the reason for this is to get QR coal trains away from the suburbs along the Brisbane River.
Apparently much of the entry from the south is to be through tunnels to give a connection to Fisherman Islands.

The official reason for going via Toowoomba is that the mountains around Warwick would increase construction costs more than going via Toowoomba, which I find hard to believe, given the existing line and its problems. And surely the long term costs of a much shorter route must add up in the long run.

M636C

M, I totally agree with you on the alternative route and not using the Toowoomba option.  While its been a long time since I was on that side of Brisbane, both using the road via Cunninghams gap, and the road to Toowoomba, the cost to build a complete new connection from Warwick must work out to be a better option than trying to redo the line frome Helidon to Toowoomba.

The extra K's to run via Toowoomba adds a fair bit to the overall route for items heading to Brisbane and ports there, also would mean a dual gauge set up if its being considered for coal and other services as well.  That would also mean the need to either dual gauge part the line from Kagaru or have a seperate NG line alongside.,

Sure there is some heavy areas to the east of Warwick, but certainly not as bad as the Toowoomba range line with the heavy grades along the line, the cost to reduce and cut a new line along that area could not be cheaper, unless the QLD government is looking to have that line upgraded and paying part of the costs. Thing is that the Toowoomba route also has not just coal and some freight services it also has passenger trains, along with some to Gatton unless they have been cut.

Rather than a new straightish line on a graduated descent from Warwick, the other line has a second decent decent from Laidley to contend with as well.

Guys the route via Toowoomba helps pick up the coal traffic which will go a fair way to helping to pay for the project....

Guys the route via Toowoomba helps pick up the coal traffic which will go a fair way to helping to pay for the project....

James, so is the line going to be dual gauge?  The other question in that regard then is will ARTC take over the control of both dual and standard gauge in those sections?

Given the lay of the line from Toowoomba how much of it can have the amount of track realingnment to make it the better option and actually a better long term value than a more direct route from Warwick?

There is also a lot of politics being pushed with the line especailly in QLD with some areas pushing for the line to be extended to Gladstone for the port facilities.

The coal traffic won't be picked up by the new standard gauge line unless the Western Line is gauge converted or dual gauged west of Toowoomba and at this stage no component of the Inland Rail Corridor has included this as part of the project, nor has QR, the owner of the Western Line, included gauge conversion or dual gauging in its future funding and maintenance strategies of the Western Line. At this stage QR and the Queensland Government (the beneficiary of QR's Network Access income) have not shown any interest in sharing coal revenue with the ARTC and its Inland Rail project. In fact, QR and the ARTC have competing interests in this corridor and shouldn't be considered in a state of cooperation when it comes to sharing each other's potential revenue or primary traffic tasks.