John Holland to manage NSW regional rail

John Holland has been selected as the preferred proponent to manage the Country Regional Network (CRN) by the NSW Government’s Country Rail Infrastructure Authority.

John Holland group managing director Glenn Palin said the contract represents a strategic expansion into railway asset maintenance for the company.

“[It] the first part of our broader push toward the establishment of a comprehensive transport asset maintenance business across a range of infrastructure and transport classes,” Palin said.

John Holland executive general manager rail Karl Mociak said in addition to being Australia’s largest rail construction contractor, the CRN contract now establishes John Holland as Australia’s largest private railway asset management company.

“The further development of our systems and expertise in railway asset management through this contract will provide a foundation on which to broaden our service offering to include train operation and control services, which will be offered to private and public sector clients across Australia and abroad,” Mociak said.

The 10-year contract is worth $1.5bn and involves the operation, management, maintenance and upgrade of country railway lines across NSW, including 2700km of operational freight and passenger lines and 3100km of non-operational lines.

John Holland will deliver the full scope of railway asset management services under the contract, including network operations, signalling, structures and major periodic maintenance.

The 10-year CRN contract will commence in the field late in 2011 and will run through 2021. A directly employed John Holland workforce in excess of 400 will be created to deliver the full scope of works.

Story courtesy of Rail Express