Aurizon, one of Australia’s largest rail freight companies signed a massive deal with logistics provider Team Global Express (TGE) for almost 1,7 billion euros. The deal aims at significantly expanding Aurizon’s network along the Australian south and southeast coasts by handling TGE’s containerised rail freight volumes.

The agreement has a duration of eleven years and includes five new weekly rail services on the east-west line (Melbourne-Sydney-Adelaide-Perth) and two on the north-south line (Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne). Aurizon’s services for TGE will start in April with full service expected to be reached 12 months later. Aurizon claimed that the new partnership will allow the company to add 200,000 TEUs of capacity to its current containerised freight volumes.

Aurizon has historically mostly focused on the rail transportation of coal. “This is our biggest non-coal revenue contract ever and Aurizon is delighted to be TGE’s rail provider for its containers transported interstate,” said Aurizon’s CEO Andrew Harding. TGE’s CEO, Christine Holgate, said that the deal will secure extra capacity in what she defined as “a very limited rail market”.

Aurizon’s recent expansion plan

Aurizon has been looking to expand its operations over the past few months. In August 2022 the company closed the acquisition of One Rail Australia (ORA) and East Coast Rail (ECR) for over 1,6 billion euros. This acquisition allowed Aurizon to expand its network and start services on the Tarcoola-Darwin line, crossing central Australia from north to south. This deal covered ORA’s bulk and general rail freight assets as ECR’s coal rail freight services in New South Wales and Queensland.

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