Aurizon has continued its ramp-up of national interstate container services for customers, with the commencement of the first east coast service.
Aurizon will operate the weekly return service on the Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane corridor, anchored by cornerstone customer Team Global Express (TGE). It will originate from Melbourne on Wednesday; connect through Glenlee terminal in Sydney’s west near Campbelltown on Thursday; and continue through to the Brisbane Multimodal terminal at the Port of Brisbane for a Friday arrival.
The service caters to a range of containerised freight, including local manufactured goods and produce together with import and export traffic, in a co-ordinated port-rail-terminal-rail-port service.
To coincide with the new service, Aurizon has secured a long-term lease at the Glenlee Terminal which has direct access to the north-south rail corridor and proximity to major arterial roads and Hume Highway.
This east coast linehaul service is the third linehaul interstate service implemented by the Aurizon Containerised Freight business, following the commencement of two Melbourne-Perth services in April and July.
Aurizon’s Group Executive Containerised Freight, Gareth Long, said he was delighted with growing customer interest and inquiries for the linehaul services.
“We’ve just completed a national round of business briefings (Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane) where our team shared with freight industry leaders details on Aurizon’s service offering and the investment we’re making in new wagons, rolling stock and portside services,” he said.
“While our key focus has been on ensuring we deliver the capacity and reliability for TGE on these new services, we will continue to onboard additional customers as our capacity ramps up into the New Year.
“By growing capacity on these linehaul routes, Aurizon is able to offer customers more options and flexibility for their inter-city transport requirements.
“We are looking forward to increased activity for our business, as investments that we are making in new rollingstock, terminal and port equipment are progressively commissioned to support existing and new customers,” Long said.
In February 2023, Aurizon was awarded an Australia-wide 11-year contract with TGE, for rail linehaul services connecting Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne Sydney and Brisbane.