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Metal plaque mounted inside an MTR Metro-Cammell EMU. The Plaque reads "MTR train modernisation by Goninan Quality, A member of the United group of companies, AUSTRALIA, December 1998 - December 2001"
United Goninan builder's plate seen on refurbished MTR M-Train EMUs

UGL Rail is an Australian rail company specialising in building, maintaining and refurbishing diesel locomotives, diesel and electric multiple units and freight wagons. It is a subsidiary of UGL and is based in Melbourne, with a staff of 1,200 across Australia and Asia. It operates factories in Broadmeadow (Newcastle), Spotswood and Bassendean. While it used to operate a factory in Taree, the plant was shut down and the equipment sold off.

History

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Pacific National NR class
New South Wales 43 class
NSW TrainLink H set
Sydney Trains C set
New South Wales Hunter railcar
Hong Kong Light Rail Phase III LRV

Founded in Australia in 1899 by Cornish brothers Alfred and Ralph Goninan as an engineering and manufacturing company for the coal industry, A Goninan & Co Limited was incorporated as a public company in 1905.[1]

It entered the rail business in 1917 via Commonwealth Steel Products Company of Waratah, Newcastle, a wheel and axle manufacturer, because those items could no longer be imported from Belgium due to World War I. A Goninan & Co moved to more convenient freehold land at Broadmeadow in 1919 and built a flourishing business in general engineering.[1] It made pitheads, boilers, wagons and a huge, cast 41-ton block for the district's coal trade.[1] In October 1964, A Goninan & Co was purchased by Howard Smith.

In August 1999, A Goninan & Co was sold to United Group and re-branded United Goninan.[2] In 2005, it was renamed United Group Rail, as part of a reorganisation following United Group's purchase of Alstom's Australian subsidiary, Alstom Transport Australia and New Zealand.[3]

Factories

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While most items were manufactured at Broadmeadow, it did purchase Comeng's Bassendean, Western Australia plant. This plant rebuilt many Pilbara Alco locomotives with General Electric components in the 1990s as well as building 17 Westrail P class and 60 NR class locomotives.[4]

In 1983, a factory was established in Townsville to fulfill a contract for Queensland Railways 2600 class locomotives that required them to be built locally. It later built the 2800 class.

As part of UGL's acquisition of Alstom Australia and New Zealand in 2005, UGL leased Alstom's workshops at Ballarat North from then until 2012.[5][6]

Products

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National

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New South Wales

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Victoria

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Queensland

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Western Australia

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Hong Kong

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New South Wales

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Sydney Metro

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UGL is a part of Metro Trains Sydney which constructed and now operates the Sydney Metro Northwest[7]

New Intercity Fleet

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UGL is a member of the RailConnect NSW consortium, a joint venture between UGL, Hyundai Rotem and Mitsubishi Electric, which has designed and will build and maintain more than 500 NSW TrainLink D set train carriages. Delivery commenced in the second half of 2019. Maintenance will be carried out at the Kangy Angy Maintenance Centre.[8]

UGL Unipart

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UGL Rail has been responsible for the maintenance of all of CityRail's EMU fleet at Maintrain, Auburn since March 1994 following the closure of Electric Carriage Workshops and Eveleigh Carriage Workshops.[9] In the early 1990s, A Goninan & Co refurbished S and V sets at Broadmeadow as part of the Citydecker program.

Since December 2011, UGL Unipart, a 70:30 joint venture with Unipart, has maintained most of CityRail and later Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink's EMU fleet.[10]

Maintenance on H sets was initially carried out at Eveleigh but from 2018 is done at other depots with major work done at Maintrain, Auburn[clarification needed] as for other types of Sydney Trains sets. The contract to maintain 1,050 Sydney Trains carriages including H and V sets was extended for two years from 1 July 2019.[11]

Country Regional Network

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UGL Rail has been responsible for maintaining the NSW Country Regional Network since January 2022.[12][13] It took over from John Holland Group.

Metro Trains Melbourne

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UGL Rail owns 20% of Metro Trains Melbourne, the consortium that has run Melbourne's metro railway network since November 2009.[14]

Adelaide

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In July 2020, UGL Rail became responsible for maintenance of the Glenelg tram line in Adelaide as part of the Torrens Connect consortium.[15][16]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Goninan, Alfred (1865–1953) Archived 22 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine Australian Dictionary of Biography
  2. ^ "United Group Buys Goninan from Howard Smith" Railway Digest October 1999 page 12
  3. ^ United to acquire rail business Alstom Archived 9 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine Sydney Morning Herald 2 June 2005
  4. ^ Clark, Peter (2012). An Australian Locomotive Guide. Rosenberg Publishing. p. 24. ISBN 9781921719554.
  5. ^ "Alstom signs agreement with United Group for sale of Australia & New Zealand transport business". Alstom. Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 2 August 2008.
  6. ^ "UGL'S Ballarat Operations - a New Beginning with the use of Asset Management Principles". UGL. November 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  7. ^ Sydney Metro Northwest – case study Archived 29 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine UGL Rail
  8. ^ New Intercity Fleet Archived 29 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine UGL
  9. ^ "Goninan's Maintrain Centre Officially Opened" Railway Digest May 1994 page 9
  10. ^ UGL Unipart CIMIC Group
  11. ^ UGL secures $277M extension with Sydney Trains Archived 29 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine UGL 31 January 2019
  12. ^ "Country Regional Network". Transport for NSW. 3 August 2018. Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  13. ^ "UGL scores crucial contract for Country Regional Network". Rail Express. 15 February 2021. Archived from the original on 12 February 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
  14. ^ Melbourne's trains to get Metro brand Archived 24 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine Railway Gazette International 3 September 2009
  15. ^ Adelaide Bus and Public Transport Contracts Announced Australasian Bus & Coach 10 March 2020
  16. ^ UGL and John Holland to operate Adelaide trams Metro Report International 12 March 2020
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