December has seen Volga-Dnepr’s 12th AN-124-100 flight of the year to Australia, which remains a prime market for the freighter. Volga-Dnepr’s operations comply with the Australian government’s strict requirements on aircraft noise that came into force earlier in the year. It saw some noisy aircraft unable to operate to or from the country but Volga-Dnepr’s AN-124 and IL-76TD-90VD operations have continued as normal, according to Dennis Gliznoutsa, Group Commercial Director (Charters).
He said: ‘Special permits have always been required for AN-124 flights to Australia and we have continued to gain these by satisfying the national aviation requirements. The AN-124 and our modernised IL-76TD-90VD freighters are fully compliant with all existing requirements and regulations and we look forward to continuing to provide outsize and heavyweight cargo services to our many customers in Australia in 2011 and beyond, which also supports the Australian economy.’ Gliznoutsa said he does not anticipate any legislative barriers that will hamper Volga-Dnepr’s services to and from Australia.
K&S Freighters K&S Energy & Chemtrans K&S Bulk K&S NZ K&S Fuels DTM Regal General Regal Heavy NTFS Aero Refuellers H & S.
See also: formerly had a freight division, known as V/Line Freight. Under the, 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. History Inception The company was formed in March 1999 when the Freight Victoria consortium was announced by the as the successful bidder for the state owned business.
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The consortium consisted of,. The sale included 107 locomotives and more than 2,800 freight wagons, maintenance centres at, and, as well as a 45-year lease (in renewable 15 year leases) on 4,756 km of intrastate track in regional Victoria. A green and yellow livery was adopted for rolling stock. The company commenced operations on 1 May 1999. Expansion Regular broad gauge trains in Victoria carried logs sourced from, paper products from, gravel from, as well as general freight to and from,. Grain trains also operated throughout the state as required.
Freight Victoria also operated standard gauge trains in Victoria to Wodonga. Freight Victoria soon begun gaining contracts outside Victoria, taking advantage of open access regimes. In October 1999 it began hauling logs from to and in December 1999 from. In March 2000 the company was renamed Freight Australia. In April 2000 Freight Australia began hauling export grain from southern New South Wales to Melbourne and Port Kembla.
In October 2000 it commenced hauling services from Melbourne to. Further interstate contracts followed:. Fuel: from to, and. Domestic grain: from throughout NSW to Weston Milling, from 2002.
Export grain: from the NSW district to, or Appleton Dock, Melbourne. Friskies: grain transported to a pet food processing plant in, from the central-west of NSW. Logs: spasmodic traffic from Canberra to Port Kembla. Cement: to Melbourne Demise In October 2003 Freight Australia was put up for sale. The (ACCC) looked at the sale, fearing that would create a rail and freight monopoly if it won control of the operator. At the time other potential buyers included, and merchant bank. In March 2004 announced the sale of Freight Australia to Pacific National subject to government and regulatory approval.
In July 2004 the ACCC announced it would not oppose the acquisition, and in August 2004 the Victorian Government approved the transfer of the Freight Australia infrastructure lease to Pacific National. Fleet Included in the purchase of V/Line Freight were 107 diesel locomotives and more than 2,800 freight wagons, which had been owned and operated by the and their successors. The newest and most powerful locomotives were the 3,300 hp delivered from 1984, but other locomotives dated as far back as the 1950s. With traffic growing Freight Victoria decided to replace the prime movers in number of the G class, increasing the power output to 3,800 hp.
The older diesels also saw a more extensive power upgrade program, being stripped to the frame and rebuilt as the. The company only purchased a single new locomotive, which was built new in 2002 to replace two written off G class locomotives. Additional rollingstock was also acquired, including new 100 tonne capacity grain hoppers built by at the, second hand grain hoppers from, and the conversion of surplus vans into log and container flats.
To fulfill a contractual condition with customer that if Freight Australia was acquired by a competitor of CRT Group, 10,000 hp (7,500 kW) of locomotive power (calculated by the business CRT Group was offering Freight Australia) was to be transferred to them, two and two locomotives were transferred to CRT Group. The balance of the fleet was included in the sale to Pacific National.
References. ^ Peter Attenborough (June 2004). 'Freight Australia'.
Australian Model Railway Magazine. 21 (9): 24–27.