Australian steel forging ahead with $292 million rail contract

The Australian Rail Track Corporation has signed a $292 million contract with Liberty Primary Steel, which will see 147,000 tonnes of steel manufactured in Whyalla, South Australia (SA) for use on key rail projects across Australia including Inland Rail.

More than 110,000 tonnes of Liberty Steel will be used for Inland Rail with the total contract supporting approximately 1,500 jobs in SA. The order builds on the $51 million worth of steel already supplied from Whyalla for use on the Parkes to Narromine and Narrabri to North Star sections of the project.

Other contracts for regional manufacturing and materials supply include:

• $143 million for 1.3 million concrete sleepers to be manufactured by Austrak facilities in Rockhampton, Queensland and Wagga Wagga, New South Wales.
• $80 million for turnouts to be manufactured at Vossloh Cogifer’s facility in Castlemaine, Victoria.
• $80 million in concrete culverts (94,000 tonnes) to be manufactured by Humes, Tamworth, New South Wales.
• $51 million in steel rail (38,000 tonnes) supplied by Liberty OneSteel Whyalla, South Australia.
• $32 million for 316,396 concrete sleepers from Rocla, Mittagong, New South Wales.
• $25 million in ballast and capping (800,000 tonnes) from Parkes-based companies Calvani Crushing and Ausrock Quarries.
• $22 million for 224,939 concrete sleepers from Austrak in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales.