<p>Pacific National has awarded $45m worth of contracts to upgrade about 1,000 of its grain wagons.</p> <p>Bradken will upgrade 390 wagons at its Newcastle and Mittagong workshops and GH Varley will upgrade 273 wagons at its Newcastle facility on top of an earlier Pacific National contract to upgrade another 318 wagons.</p> <p>A Pacific National spokesman said the upgrades are designed to increase wagon loading and unloading speeds with new ground-operated roof lids and modification to unloading doors.</p> <p>"We will also see improvements to employees’ health and safety conditions, as operators will simply turn a switch to open the lids rather than have to climb on top of the wagons," the spokesman said.</p> <p>Bradken designed and developed a unique roof hatch system to enable lid opening and closing under existing grain loading shutes, Pacific National said.</p> <p>The upgrades should extend the life of the wagons for a further 10 years, the operator believes.</p> <br />
