The Queensland Government’s plan to bring train manufacturing back to the state is being boosted by a $30 million investment from Downer partner Hyundai Rotem.
The corporation will establish a stand-alone local presence on the Fraser Coast with the purchase of an industrial site and plans to establish a factory to produce sub-components for train car bodies.
Roll forming – involving the continuous bending of a long strip of sheet metal (typically coiled steel) to make sub-components for train car bodies – has been made overseas for decades but will now be made locally as part of the Government’s commitment to bringing train manufacturing back to Maryborough, creating an additional 20 jobs.
The Hyundai Rotem facility is in addition to the QTMP site being built at Torbanlea and Downer’s facility at Maryborough.
Major works are underway at Torbanlea to transform a former pineapple farm into Australia’s newest state-of-the-art train manufacturing facility, which will manufacture 65 six-car passenger trains to run on the SEQ train network.
The Queensland Train Manufacturing Program will support 800 construction and manufacturing jobs.
Downer was awarded the Design Build Maintain Contract (DBM) for the QTMP earlier this year and has partnered with the Hyundai Rotem Corporation (HRC) for the manufacturing of the 65 new trains.
Once the first QTMP train has been built in 2026, it will begin testing before entering passenger services in 2027. All 65 trains are expected to be in service in time for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games while helping to run additional services that will be delivered by the Cross River Rail and Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail projects.
A co-design process is ongoing with the disability sector to inform the design of the new QTMP trains.
This will shape the design of the new passenger trains to ensure they are compliant, functional, and accessible for all passengers.
Early works to upgrade local intersections within Torbanlea started in August 2022 ahead of the start of construction on the train manufacturing facility.
Fast facts (QTMP Torbanlea facility):
- The footprint of the train manufacturing facility is approximately 30,000m2, almost three times the size of Suncorp Stadium
- About 2400 tonnes of structural steel will be used in the construction
- More than 20,000 cubic metres of concrete will be used to construct slabs
- Around 2.3km of new road will be constructed from the facility gatehouse to the facility.
