El Zorro is a railway operator based in Victoria, Australia. It is a private company that was founded in 1999, based in Spotswood, and named by director Ray Evans who has a taste for things Spanish.[1] (El Zorro is Spanish for "the fox"). The company has three shareholders: director Ray Evans, business manager Geoff Tighe, and Lisa Trezise.[2] Mr Tighe is the former chief executive of Great Northern Rail Services, a defunct rail operator which did similar work to El Zorro.[2]
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In 2004 the company won a multimillion-dollar contract with Queensland Rail subsidiary Interail, crewing their Brisbane-to-Melbourne rail service on the southern leg from Junee to Melbourne.[2] Today the company is an accredited rail operator the in state of Victoria on both standard and broad gauges, and operates infrastructure trains (sometimes referred as plant trains or work trains), electric multiple unit transfer trains, and regular freight trains on both the metropolitan network and the Victorian regional network.[3] The company also provides train crews to other rail operators such as Pacific National.[1]
The company also has contracts with AWB Limited to operate two grain trains on the east coast,[4] and with the Port of Melbourne Corporation to operate container trains between Melbourne's Swanson Dock and an intermodal freight terminal at Somerton. [5] In December 2007 Pacific National announced that they were scaling back their Victorian operations, with El Zorro admitting that the logistics of moving an entire Victorian wheat harvest were beyond their capabilities at the time, including two T class locomotives and 80 wagons.[6] The first El Zorro grain train was operated on the standard gauge on December 11, 2007, and the first broad gauge grain train on January 18, 2008.[7]
In March 2008 it was announced that El Zorro would be taking over the Warrnambool - Melbourne container service from Pacific National,[8] the first train running on April 1.[9]
In August 2008 AWB Limited announced a new 5 year contract with the operator, to run 4 trains moving grain throughout Victoria and New South Wales. 84 new rail wagons have been ordered for this work, to be delivered in early 2009.[10] The wagon fleet is expected to cost $8–$10 million.[11] It is expected that El Zorro would operate to Dimboola, Sea Lake and Birchip using two train sets, one broad gauge and one standard gauge.[12] The company intends to commission two to three diesel locomotives from Avteq, builder of the CFCLA VL class.[13]
In September 2008 the company signed a multi-million deal with miner Iluka Resources to carry containerised mineral sands from Portland in the south-west to Melbourne, with Iluka saying rail transport was cheaper than road.[14] Trains will run three times a week from September 15, carrying 40 containers making up a load of 1000 tonnes.[15]
In October 2008 El Zorro was given 10 days by Westvic Container Handling that the Melbourne - Warrnambool contract would be terminated, with the last train running on October 17. Westvic said on the first day of operations they were disappointed when a rusty assortment of wagons arrived. Patrick Corporation, subsidiary of Asciano Limited will take over the service.[16] Issues El Zorro faced with the service included a lack of broad gauge locomotives and container wagons, the removal of crossing loops on the line by track manager V/Line with associated late running and delays, and the inability to carry high cube containers though the Geelong tunnel due to a lack of low platform wagons.
In October 2008 the company operated a trial service to the Gippsland Intermodal Freight Terminal (GIFT) outside Morwell, Victoria, in what was the first train to use the facility in almost three years. El Zorro is currently in talks with local companies who wish to utilise rail freight.[17]
In December 2008 the company started supplying rolling stock to Regional Rail Logistics, a New South Wales based freight operator serving the Riverina region.[18]
Current services operated by El Zorro include:
In 2008 El Zorro had 45 employees and owns five small-to-medium locomotives, along with some wagons.[2] Other locomotives and rolling stock are leased from Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia, Australian Railroad Group, Specialised Container Transport and Genesee and Wyoming Australia; or hired from various Victorian railway preservation groups such as the Seymour Railway Heritage Centre, Steamrail Victoria, and 707 Operations. The company has made approaches to acquire unwanted rolling stock from competitor Pacific National parent Asciano Limited, but were told that rolling stock would be scrapped or exported to Saudi Arabia before it was made available domestically.[19]
Locomotives owned by the company include S302, T386 and Y145. Those on lease to the company include C501, B65 and B74, SCT G classes, GWA GM classes, and CFCLA EL and VL classes.[20]
T386 was the first locomotive to receive any El Zorro marking, receiving a 'Z' painted on the end of each hood. In May 2008 Y145 was the first locomotive to be painted into the new El Zorro grey, orange and yellow livery.[21][22] In January 2009 South Gippsland Railway owned T342 was painted in the El Zorro livery and commenced a long lease.[23] In August 2009, S302 was also repainted in to the corporate livery.[24]
Wagons include container flats, open wagons, rail transporters, and ballast hoppers. Grain hoppers, sleeper discharge wagons, container flats, and ballast hoppers are also leased by the company.[20]