Six new locomotive workhorses for Pacific National

Pacific National has taken delivery of six new UGL locomotive workhorses in the latest of a series of handover ceremonies.

The new 4400-horsepower C44ACi locomotives numbered 9301 to 9306 were built by UGL at its production facility in Broadmeadow, Newcastle, for Pacific National’s intermodal and bulk haulage business.

The‘93 Class’ locomotives follow the 15 ‘92 Class’ locomotives delivered for Pacific National’s Hunter Valley coal haulage operations in 2008.

This time the celebration took place at the Spotswood locomotive maintenance centre, which is operated by UGL for Pacific National in Melbourne’s south west.

CFO and newly-appointed director of Pacific National Rail Angus McKay announced during the celebration that: “These new locomotives will be a valuable addition to Pacific National.

“The 93 Class fleet will deliver additional intermodal services which will enable our company to successfully meet with increasing customer demand. This acquisition is part of a longer-term renewal strategy of our assets to further support our vision to be Australia’s leading provider of critical logistics services.”

Pacific National’s intermodal business currently operates 180 services a week across mainland Australia.

The 93 Class locomotives will allow the company to fulfill new contracts for moving bulk commodities such as grain and magnetite.

Alan Beacham, UGL’s executive general manager freight, said: “The 93 Class is the result of our intimate knowledge of Pacific National’s intermodal operations. The new fleet represents a continuing evolution in the high-performance locomotives that UGL and GE deliver which originated from the excellent performance of the NR Class.”

9301 and 9302 entered revenue service from Melbourne to Sydney on Saturday, August 11.