I’m not sure how long they have been doing so, but this morning I photographed 42105 leading a trip train from Botany to Yennora. For quite a while, QRNational have run trains between Melbourne and Brisbane (with loading from Sydney being shunting on/off the train at Broadmeadow) as well as Sydney – Melbourne trains on days when the train from Brisbane does not run.
QRNational originally entered into a contract with CRT (Colin Rees Transport) at their Yennora depot in western Sydney, before buying out CRT and integrating it into the ever growing QRN company. While Patricks Portlink run multiple trip trains to/from Port Botany from the Yennora terminal, this was the first I had heard of QRNational running a similar service.
In fact, on P10 of May’s Railway Digest, there is an article on the planned P&O/QRN development of the Yennora site, with a domestic/international P&O intermodal shipping terminal, with frequent shuttle trains to and from Port Botany.
Certainly something to keep an eye on!
For those willing to get up early, QRN depart Botany Yard at about 0800 in the morning (Monday to Thursday), returning to Yennora around 1000 (due to peak hour curfew, they are unable to access the mainline until after peak hour is over). I have not noticed any change in the daily PPL shuttles between Yennora and Port Botany, this week hauled by CFCLA’s GM27 and GM22.
Trent,
Apparently it is in addition to the PPL service which remains unaffected.
I believe it runs Mon-Thurs at the moment.
Best wishes
Brad
By: Brad on May 14, 2008
at 2:31 pm
Ohh, right. That just shows how much QRN is growing, before we know it there will be Banana Benders everywhere!
Now I just need a good reason for being late for school tomorrow.
By: Fred on May 14, 2008
at 6:10 pm
[...] At 1600 hours the same day, Patricks Portlink Accreditation ceased – they are now running under a temporary Pacific National accreditation. It is unknown at this stage if they will renew their accreditation, having reportedly lost the Yennora contract (as the Distribution Centre is owned by CRT Group, which is in turn owned by QRNational, who have recently begun providing their own shuttle between Yennora and Botany, as can be seen here). [...]
By: (News to Me) The Final Run of T176/7 « Raichase - Trackside with a Camera on June 28, 2008
at 9:43 pm