Rail First Asset Management (RailFirst), formerly known as CFCL Australia (CFCLA, Chicago Freight Car Leasing), is an Australian

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...

leasing company operating in the rail freight market. It leases assets to a number of private rail operators, predominantly on the defined interstate rail network. Though primarily based in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, RailFirst's assets can be found operating in most Australian states and with all major train operating companies. It has rolling stock on both long-term lease to those companies as well as assets that are available for spot hire. It is owned by DIF Capital Partners and Amber Infrastructure. Rail First has workshops in Islington Adelaide and Goulburn in regional NSW where it maintains its owned rollingstock in house and the rollingstock of third parties.

History

Rail First Asset Management was originally established in 1998 by the American Chicago Freight Car Leasing Company as ''CFCL Australia''. The company's first contract was for the supply of a small fleet of radio-controlled automated ballast hoppers to Westrail. During November 1998, the company acquired its first locomotives in the form of 13 EL class locomotives, which were obtained from Australian National. In 2000, it expanded the wagon fleet. In March 2009, the Marubeni Corporation purchased a 49% stake in CFCL Australia. In November 2012, CFCL Australia unveiled its first infrastructure train in the

Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. By October 2014, the company had locomotives operating construction trains on the Roy Hill railway and on the

Hamersley & Robe River railway The Hamersley & Robe River railway, majority-owned by Rio Tinto, and operated by its subsidiary Pilbara Iron, is a private rail network in the Pilbara region of Western Australia for the purpose of carrying iron ore. The network is larger than ...

. Throughout the 2010s, there was a significant growth in demand from the intermodal sector; in response, the majority of CFCL Australia's wagons were engaged in use by various clients in this sector, typically under wet leasing arrangements suitable for companies that may not have traditionally been active on the railways before. To better suit customer demands, the company's management were looking at options to obtain additional 40-foot wagons, one such proposal being the shortening of existing 60-foot wagons. Company officials forecast demand for intermodal rolling stock would continue to grow as additional freight terminals come online across Australia, including several schemes in the Sydney basin and New South Wales, as well as the Inland Rail programme. During 2016, Marubeni decided to relinquish its stake in CFCL Australia and moving to 15% stake in CF Asia Pacific. As of January 2020, Marubeni holds no interest in either entity. During January 2020, CFCL Australia was acquired by Anchorage Capital Partners; one year later, the company was rebranded as Rail First Asset Management in 2021. DIF Capital Partners and Amber Infrastructure Group acquired Rail First in December 2022, since this change of ownership new 4400hp AC traction locomotives have been ordered from UGL (GE Wabtec) with 26 to be in service by December 2024. Mid 2024 Amber Infrastructure Group has exited Australia and sold their share to DIF Capital Partners.

Rail First Asset Management

In Jan 2021 RFAM took out a lease on the Goulburn Railway Workshops to maintain both its locomotive and wagon fleets with the facility named the Australian Horse Power Service Centre. As well as maintaining its own fleet, Railfirst Asset Management also perform maintenance for other operators including Qube Logistics. It also maintains locomotives at

Islington Railway Workshops The Islington Railway Workshops are railway workshops in the northern suburbs of Adelaide, South Australia. They were the chief railway workshops of the South Australian Railways, and are still in operation today.Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. In Early 2021 was established, bringing together the Australian Horse Power Service Centre and took over Bluebird Rail Operations engineering business at Islington. The Rail First Asset Management Also as RFAM In 2021 company was working to expand its workshop capacity to meet customer demand, particularly for fast turnaround times.

Fleet

Initially, RailFirst's locomotive fleet comprised second-hand locomotives that were no longer required by their original rail operators; some of these would be re-manufactured units or had undergone life-extending overhauls. Over time, the company has orientated towards purchasing new locomotives instead. In May 2012, the company placed one of its first orders for ten MP33C new-build locomotives with

Wabtec Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies Corporation, commonly known as Wabtec, is an American company formed by the merger of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company (WABCO) and MotivePower in 1999. It is headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Wab ...

subsidiary

MotivePower MotivePower, Inc. (MPI) was an American manufacturer of diesel-electric locomotives. The company traces its history back to being a division of Morrison-Knudsen (MK) since 1972. Most locomotives in the fleet are named after famous Australian racehorses. RailFirst fleet consist of 1,200 freight wagons of a variety of types including grain hoppers, bulk mineral hoppers, and intermodal flat wagons of varying lengths and carrying capabilities. RailFirst wagons generally have four-character identification codes starting with the letter C.

References

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External links

Company website
Railway rolling stock leasing companies of Australia Railway companies established in 1998 1998 establishments in Australia Asset management companies