TasRail is currently providing 12 weekly services between Norske Skog’s Boyer paper mill in the Derwent Valley and the Port of Burnie.
The Boyer Mill is one of Tasmania’s largest employers and the only manufacturer of publication grade papers in Australasia.
TasRail CEO Steven Dietrich said that, because the network directly serviced the Boyer Mill, shipping containers packed with heavyweight products were transported safely on rail direct to the port ready for shipping.
The Boyer Mill has been using rail transport since the 1940s. Boyer Mill General Manager Patrick Dooley said the mill produced around 260,000 tonnes per annum of newsprint and lightweight coated paper.
“Safe, reliable and efficient supply chains are critical to the successful operation of the Boyer Mill, therefore the partnership with TasRail is very important to our business,” he said.
TasRail is investing record capital into the Tasmanian Rail Network, with the Tasmanian and Australian Governments jointly funding the $335 million Tasmanian Freight Rail Revitalisation Program. One outcome of the investment to date has been a record reduction in mainline derailments.
Dietrich said it had been more than two years since TasRail had experienced a mainline derailment.
“We are proud of the fact that there are around 150 people in the Tasmanian civil construction sector helping us to deliver the Tasmanian Freight Rail Revitalisation Program,” he said.
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