QR locos sail into Brisbane

[ozbob]

http://www.qr.com.au/coalrail/coal_systems/goonyella/

QR locos sail into Brisbane

The first new locomotives in the multi-million dollar plan to boost QR's
coal fleet in Queensland's Goonyella system, have sailed into Brisbane
overnight.

The two locomotives arrived at the wharves in Brisbane and were unloaded this
morning after their long, incident-free voyage from Germany.

They're part of QR's $650 million new rollingstock project and will be
put into service in the Goonyella rail system later this year.

The new locomotives were built by Siemens in their factory in Munich.

Their six-week voyage took them through German canals in Hamburg before being
loaded onto a ship bound for Australia.

QR CEO Lance Hockridge says the locomotives' arrival has been highly
anticipated as QR moves to improve its performance in the Goonyella system.

"We have 20 locos being built in Munich and a further 25 scheduled for
production in 2009.

"These two state-of-the-art 3800 locos are the first to arrive and we hope
to have them in service in the Goonyella system by September after they've
been fully tested and handed over to QR."

The locomotives are being moved onto rails at the wharves today where they will
be registered before moving from the site to be hooked up to a QRNational
freight train for the journey north to Jilalan where they will undergo testing
before going into service.

Mr Hockridge says the new locomotives are part of QR's massive capacity
increase program on the Goonyella system.

"As well as the new 3800 class locomotives, we are also investing $250
million to upgrade 63 3700 locomotives and $500 million on upgrading Jilalan
Yard.

"By late 2009 we will have increased our capacity on the Goonyella system
from 94 mtpa to 130 mtpa."

QRNational Coal's Asset Management General Manager Vic Stevens said the
need to get additional locomotives as quickly as possible had led to the
two-pronged production approach.

"Normally we would prefer to produce locos in Australia, but due to our
customers' needs and our current stretched resources during this boom time,
the urgency of the task led to us arranging them to be produced overseas as well
as here," he said.

QR representatives were in Germany recently to inspect the new locos and
incorporate drivers' feedback which included several modifications and
improvements.

Siemens Mobility Executive General Manager Paul Bennett said Siemens was
pleased to have again been entrusted to deliver the major project.

"We are delighted to be continuing our valued relationship with QR",
he said.

Photograph can be see here --> http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesmp/2607053142