New Sleeper Factory in Wagga Wagga
15 June 2007
The contract involves the supply of a minimum of 1.25 million sleepers and fasteners for its $2 billion North-South rail upgrade project, which will be delivered over the next three years.
To meet the demand, Austrak will be manufacturing approximately 250,000 concrete sleepers from their Geelong factory, with the balance being manufactured from a new factory to be built at Wagga Wagga.
Austrak General Manager, Piers Brogan, said the award of this contract was strategically important to the business.
"We've now entered the New South Wales market with the award of this contract, and are delighted to be part of the team that will deliver this significant piece of infrastructure. Securing this contract also ensures we are ideally positioned for future contracts in the region," Piers said.
At a cost of $11.5 million, the new Wagga Wagga Factory will comprise an enclosed building 230m x 26m, with eight pre-stressing beds 175m long and four sleepers wide, and a stockpile or loading area with a gantry crane of 400m x 20m. Approximately 60 people will be employed locally for the six days a week, 24-hour operation.
"This will be the tenth factory that Austrak has built in Australia in the last 25 years, including the hugely successful sleeper factories at Katherine and Tennant Creek for the Alice Springs to Darwin railway project. We have a proven business model for constructing a factory, manufacturing sleepers, and then recruiting our employees from the local area and developing their skill base," Piers said.
Concrete sleeper deliveries from the Geelong factory are planned to start in February 2007, and the Wagga Wagga factory is scheduled to start manufacturing in July 2007. This contract will be completed by April 2009.
