Downer (Maryborough) marks 150 years

[ozbob]

http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2019/12/6/historic-celebration-for-maryborough-as-downer-marks-150-years

JOINT STATEMENT

Premier and Minister for Trade
The Honourable Annastacia Palaszczuk

Minister for Transport and Main Roads
The Honourable Mark Bailey

Friday, December 06, 2019

Historic celebration for Maryborough as Downer marks 150 years

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has paid tribute to the staying power of Maryborough's Downer over its 150 year rail history, with her government today signing an agreement that commits to a $300 million pipeline of local rail manufacturing over the next decade.

In Maryborough today, Ms Palaszczuk said the agreement between Queensland Rail and Downer will see major projects like the overhaul of electric and diesel Tilt Trains as well as the IMU160 and SMU260 fleet brought to Maryborough.

More than 2,000 railcars and locomotives have been built by Downer since the business first opened in 1869 and the first order to build steam locomotives for the Queensland Government was received in 1896.

"The first locomotive for the government was trialled in January 1897 - drawing quite the crowd along Kent Street – and more than 500 more were built up until 1958," Ms Palaszczuk said.

"It's an incredible and proud history for a local industry which has provided critical infrastructure for Queensland and, importantly, sustained thousands of local jobs over the years.

"From the Maryborough workshop, Downer EDI has designed and built our tilt trains and delivered hundreds of units for our suburban and interurban rail network.

"The next decade brings new opportunities and a new era for Downer and for Maryborough as work begins to make Queensland's fleet of New Generation Rollingstock trains disability compliant.

"And in 2020, Downer will also welcome 14 apprentices – the largest local intake in the company's history.

"This is an incredible investment in education, development, and the future of our skilled workforce.

"The Downer workshop is the beating heart of this city and it supports hundreds of families and locals.

"Through the decades its manufacturing excellence has kept our State on-track and powering ahead."

Member for Maryborough Bruce Saunders said rail building is in the city's DNA and that the MoU would ensure vital rail manufacturing projects would be built by Queenslanders, for Queenslanders.

"This just proves Mary's making a comeback, and why I'll always put Maryborough first," Mr Saunders said.

Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said the Palaszczuk Government is committed to rail manufacturing jobs in the Heritage City.

"Downer's workshops today are home to more than 250 employees, recently welcoming its largest ever intake of apprentices," Mr Bailey said.

"It's the Palaszczuk Government that locked in $278 million in Queensland Rail maintenance and upgrade works for Maryborough workers and Downer since 2016."

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/MarkBaileyMP/status/1202768760643309568

[ozbob]

The Australian --> National rail plan would get regional jobs back on a growth track

Big challenges often create even bigger opportunities. So it is in Australia's rail industry, where the challenge of expanding our inadequate freight and passenger networks offers a huge opportunity to build our manufacturing capacity and create jobs, particularly in regional Australia.

In the next decade, Australian governments will invest at least $50bn in new railway projects.

State governments are working on projects such as the Melbourne Metro, Brisbane's Cross River Rail and Perth's Metronet.

Then there are projects under development, such as Western Sydney Rail, the next stage of the Gold Coast Light Rail and the inland rail link between Brisbane and Melbourne.

These new railways, and many others progressing along the construction pipeline, will require thousands of new trains and carriages. Our nation faces a choice: buy the trains overseas on the cheap or embrace the opportunity to build them here using Australian companies and creating Australian jobs.

For Labor, that choice is a no-brainer — we'll back Australian jobs every time.

Earlier this month in the Queensland regional city of Maryborough I saw first-hand what can go wrong when governments take the wrong option on manufacturing.

For more than a century, the Maryborough railway workshop operated by the Downer Group has been building trains. It employs 400 staff including 30 apprentices who are being taught skills they can use for a lifetime of work. Right now, Downer is delivering an $85m contract from the Queensland government to repair trains built in India for the former Liberal National Party state government of Campbell Newman.

The trains were not fit for purpose. Their braking systems and disability access did not meet Australian specifications. So the proud Australian workers in Maryborough are cleaning up the mess.

It would have been wiser to have built the trains here in the first place.

Buying the trains overseas is shortsighted and ignores the broader national interest.

Our national interest is served by the existence of a heavy manufacturing sector. Australia needs to have a capacity to build things. Manufacturing provides jobs.

And large, long-term manufacturing contracts provide opportunities to expand our skills base by training our young people, such as the apprentices at Downer in Maryborough, to learn skills that will serve them for their entire working lives.

Indeed, if we get the policy settings right we can use the opportunities in rail manufacturing to develop our advanced manufacturing capacity so it can expand beyond the rail sector into the future. To deliver on this vision, Australia needs a national rail plan — a framework to ensure we extract maximum national dividends from growth in the rail sector.

It should be developed in consultation with businesses, state governments and the training sector to maximise Australian involvement in meeting our growing need for rolling stock.

The plan should ensure that states co-ordinate procurement strategies to make certain that Australian manufacturers such as Downer have a steady flow of work, smoothing out peaks and lows in demand.

The Morrison government has no such plan. It is doing nothing to exploit the opportunities that lie ahead.

State Labor governments are taking a different view. In Queensland, the Palaszczuk government is working with Downer to repair its new-generation rolling stock.

In Victoria, the Andrews Labor government is investing $2.4bn on rolling stock being built at Dandenong and Ballarat.

And in Western Australia, the McGowan Labor government has commissioned Alstom to build 246 rail cars, at least half of them at a plant at Bellevue, near the old Midland Railway Workshops. The work will create up to 200 jobs.

There is also capacity for the expansion of train manufacturing in the Hunter Valley, where Downer has a workshop.

It is encouraging that many of these workshops are located in regional Australia.

When regional economies are shrinking and jobs are scarce, governments must do everything we can to encourage jobs growth in the regions. Expansion of our manufacturing capacity offers real hope to those parts of Australia.

In the 21st century, there are two sure-fire ways to generate economic growth: investing in infrastructure to lift capacity and boost productivity, and investing in people through education and training.

A national rail industry plan can address both.

Anthony Albanese is the federal Opposition Leader.

[#Metro]

Procurement should be made on cost and quality, not nation of origin.

Nation of origin should not be used as a proxy to determine the above two points.

[verbatim9]

Procurement should be made on cost and quality, not nation of origin.

Nation of origin should not be used as a proxy to determine the above two points.

Agree

[achiruel]

Procurement should be made on cost and quality, not nation of origin.

Nation of origin should not be used as a proxy to determine the above two points.

Well we should never buy Indian trains again, because the current NGRs are clearly garbage, and based on the NSW Waratah sets, we shouldn't be buying trains from China either.

But what the above posts fail to do is look at the big picture. The importance to our economy of local manufacturing cannot be measured by price alone.

[ozbob]

For interest ..

Fraser Coast Chronicle --> Downer reveals why it pulled out of rail contract tenders

24th Nov 2017

COMPANY turmoil, not politics was behind the loss of Maryborough rail contracts despite claims from both major parties.

Downer says it was forced to pull out of a tender for rail contracts in 2010 when Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was Transport Minister for the Bligh Government.

By the time Tim Nicholls was Treasurer for the Newman Government, Downer was not a contender.

A spokesman from Downer Rail yesterday confirmed CEO Michael Miller withdrew from the process because the company "had lost $400 million on a NSW public-private partnership."

The company line is in stark contrast to the LNP and Labor war of words. The parties blame each other for tender loss, which resulted in the next generation of Rollingstock being sent to India.

Then Treasurer Tim Nicholls and Transport Minister Scott Emerson announced the trains would be built for half-price by Bombardier in Mumbai in 2014.

Mechanical problems, including braking issues, disability access, heating systems and air conditioning, soon emerged when the trains returned to Australia.

Maryborough MP Bruce Saunders has leveraged his campaign on the LNP being responsible for the train contracts being sent overseas.

But the LNP is adamant the fault is with Labor for Downer pulling out of the tender process at the time.

Shadow Transport Minister Andrew Powell said the company pulled out of the tender at a time when payment fees of up to $1 million were required.

Despite all this, the Permier and Bruce Saunders are currently riding on a high after pledging $150 million to repair the trains at Maryborough's Downer factory.

Maryborough LNP candidate Richard Kingston said the party supports more manufacturing in Queensland.

"Our Buy Local policy will mandate a Local Content Plan for projects over $100 million and provide a Price Match Guarantee," Mr Kingston said.

One Nation candidate James Hansen said all trains that run in Queensland would be build in Queensland if One Nation holds the balance of power.

[Fares_Fair]

This story too, from March 2011 confirms it, and explained it thus.. it said the cost of the contracts were onerous.

https://www.frasercoastchronicle.com.au/news/downer-edi-pulls-out-32b-tender/791364/

[ozbob]

Downer EDI had second thoughts  and  requested to be considered again but it was too late ..

" ... In March 2013, Downer EDI asked to be reincluded in the process of procurement, but Transport and Main Roads declined the request. .. " *

* https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/politics/queensland/state-government-s-new-trains-were-flawed-from-day-one-20181210-p50l9p.html

It was known in 2013 when contracts signed that there were DDA issues with the trains.  The prolonged battle we and others undertook to get the truth out, was and still is deplorable in that fact.  An utter disgrace ..

[achiruel]

It will be interesting to see how the NSW NIF turn out. To be honest, I have a little more confidence in trains built in South Korea than India or China.