Freight Australia

Former Australian railway operator

Freight Australia was an Australian railway company that purchased the V/Line Freight business from the Government of Victoria in 1999. Initially known as Freight Victoria, it operated rail freight services and controlled non urban rail track in the state of Victoria, later expanding into freight haulage in other states. Freight Australia was sold to Pacific National in August 2004.

V/Line formerly had a freight division, known as V/Line Freight. Under the Kennett State Government, V/Line was split into two separate entities on 1 July 1997: V/Line Passenger and V/Line Freight, with separate management to each other in preparation for privatisation. When V/Line was privatised in 1999, the passenger and freight divisions were sold separately.

Included in the purchase of V/Line Freight were 107 diesel locomotives and more than 2,800 freight wagons, Additional rollingstock was also acquired, including new 100 tonne capacity grain hoppers built by Alstom at the Ballarat North Workshops, second hand grain hoppers from FreightCorp, and the conversion of surplus vans into log and container flats. To fulfill a contractual condition with customer CRT Group that if Freight Australia was acquired by a competitor of CRT Group, of locomotive power (calculated by the business CRT Group was offering Freight Australia) was to be transferred to them, two G and two X class locomotives were transferred to CRT Group. The balance of the fleet was included in the sale to Pacific National.

ClassImageTypeGaugeTop speed (km/h)BuiltNumberNotesFate following PN takeoverADiesel electricBroad1151984–856Rebuilt B classAll withdrawn from service by May 2014. All bar one scrapped in 2019. GDiesel electricBroad, Standard1151984–89332 scrapped following 1999 Ararat collision2 sold to QR National, later sold to Linx Cargo Care. 9 sold to SCT Logistics in March 2007, later sold again to various operators. The remaining 22 are in service with Pacific NationalHDiesel electricBroad10019685One scrapped, 4 sold to Ettamogah Rail Hub with 2 preserved by 707 OperationsPDiesel electricBroad1001984–855Rebuilt T class4 sold to Ettamogah Rail Hub. Two of those are preserved with SRHC. Remaining example stored in Newport under PN ownershipRTLDiesel electricBroad, Standard19951Ordered by V/line in 1995, only one ever produced, used to haul log trains between Bairnsdale and Sale from 1999 to 2000, later placed into storage at South Dynon. Continued to be stored by PN in South Dynon until 2011, when it was sold to maintenance company Just Track. SDiesel electricBroad1151957–615One leased from Seymour Railway Heritage Centre3 still owned by PN, with one stored in Newport, one preserved with 707 Operations, one stored in Port Augusta. Remaining example was sold to SRHC in 2010TDiesel electricBroad, Standard1001955–6812One remains in service with PN, as a shunting unit. One has been preserved with 707 Operations, every other unit has been sold to Ettamogah Rail Hub or scrapped. VDiesel electricStandard11520021Built new in 2002 to replace two G classes that were destroyed in a collision at Ararat in 1999. After spending long periods of time stored in Port Augusta, it was sold in May 2021 to One Rail Australia and has been returned to service. XDiesel electricBroad, Standard1151966–76246 rebuilt as XR class2 now preserved with SRHC, 1 scrapped in 2016, 5 more scrapped in 2019. 2 were sold to SCT Logistics in 2018. 2 remain in service with Pacific National, and three are stored. XRDiesel electricBroad, Standard1151999–20066Rebuilt from X class. Renumbering began in 2003. XR555 completed under PN ownership. Three more built from scratch in 2006, all remain in service with Pacific NationalYDiesel electricBroad, Standard651963–6820None remain in service with PN. All have been sold to Ettamogah Rail Hub, scrapped or are stored.