Independent Rail of Australia was an accredited railway freight operator in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia.

History

The company's origins can be traced back to 1990, when the

Lachlan Valley Railway The Lachlan Valley Railway Society is an Australian rail preservation society based in the New South Wales Central Western town of Cowra. It was established in 1974 to preserve and operate former New South Wales Government Railways locomotives ...

successfully tendered to operate wheat trains between

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

and

Cowra Cowra is a small town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre and the council seat for the Cowra Shire, with a population of 9,863. Cowra is located approximately above sea level, on the ...

on the Blayney to Cowra line for the Grain Handling Authority."LVR to carry wheat from Woodstock" ''

Railway Digest ''Railway Digest'' is a monthly magazine, published in Sydney, covering contemporary railways of Australia. Overview The magazine's publisher is the Australian Railway Historical Society (ARHS), NSW Division. The first issue was published i ...

'' January 1991 page 9 However, due to the line being closed for repairs, LVR grain services didn't commence until September 1993, with 4204 hauling the first services. In August 1994, the LVR operated wheat trains from Trajere on the Eugowra line to Cowra with 47 class locomotives. In June 1999, LVRF commenced operating trip working services between

Port Botany Port Botany is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Port Botany is located 12 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Randwick. Por ...

and the

Cooks River The Cooks River, a semi-mature tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, is a tributary of Botany Bay, located in south-eastern Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The course of the long urban waterway has been altered to accommodate various dev ...

container terminal in Sydney"LVR Commences Sydney Freight Operations" ''Railway Digest'' July 1999 page 12 followed in July 1999 by a service between Cooks River and

Carrington Carrington and Carington are surnames originating from one of the Carringtons in England, or from the town of Carentan in Normandy, France. It is also rarely a given name. Surname Scientists * Alan Carrington (1934–2013), British chemist *Benj ...

for R&H Transport Services."Lachlan Valley Rail Freight Expands Sydney Based Operations" ''Railway Digest'' September 1999 page 10 Congestion in Carrington saw the service diverted to the

Toll Holdings The Toll Group is an Australian-based subsidiary of Japan Post Holdings with operations in transportation, warehousing and logistics in road, rail, sea and air. It has two divisions; Global Forwarding, Global Logistics. History In 1888, A ...

siding at Sandgate."Lachlan Valley Rail Freight – ELs commence working Newcastle – Sydney freight" ''Railway Digest'' March 2000 page 33 By October 2006, LVRF had been sold to Stephen Heraghty of Bowport Allroads Transport and rebranded as Independent Railways of Australia. Independent Rail provided services to Tamworth,

Narrabri Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Highway and the Newell Highwa ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

, Blayney,

Cootamundra Cootamundra, nicknamed Coota, is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and within the Riverina. It is within the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council. At the 2016 Census, Cootamundra had a population of 6,782. ...

Harefield Harefield is a village in the London Borough of Hillingdon, England, northwest of Charing Cross near Greater London's boundary with Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the north. The population at the 2011 Census was 7,399. Ha ...

, Minto and the Port Botany rail freight terminals. It also operated a number of

RailCorp Rail Corporation New South Wales (RailCorp) was an agency of the State of New South Wales, Australia established under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988'' in 2004. It was a division under the control of Transport for NSW since the latter' ...

and

Australian Rail Track Corporation The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is an Australian Government-owned statutory corporation. It operates one of the largest rail networks in the nation spanning 8,500km across five states, 39 worksites and more than 50 First Nations. ...

spoil and infrastructure trains. In June 2012,

Qube Logistics Qube Holdings is a diversified logistics and infrastructure company in Australia. History In July 2006, following the takeover of Patrick Corporation by Toll Holdings, Chris Corrigan and some executives departed and teamed with Kaplan Funds Ma ...

announced it had purchased Independent Rail's parent company, Macarthur Intermodal Shipping Terminal, and would incorporate the Independent Rail fleet into its own.

Fleet

The LVRF fleet initially consisted of 47 class locomotives owned by the

, 44 class locomotives from the affiliated Lachlan Alco Automotive Group and ex Australian National wagons. In January 2000, LVRF commenced hiring locomotives from Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia and

Freight Australia Freight Australia was an Australian railway company that purchased the V/Line Freight business from the Government of Victoria in 1999. Initially known as Freight Victoria, it operated rail freight services and controlled non-urban rail track in ...

and, in September 2000, from

Great Northern Rail Services Great Northern Rail Services was a railway operator in Victoria, Australia. Great Northern Rail Services was incorporated in July 1993 and provided locomotives and train crews to other rail operators, ran general train operations (freight and pa ...

."GNR Power in Sydney" ''Railway Digest'' October 2000 page 33 In 2005, 16 second-hand MZ III class diesels from Danish operator

Danske Statsbaner DSB, an abbreviation of ''Danske Statsbaner'' (, ''Danish State Railways''), is the largest Danish train operating company, and the largest in Scandinavia. While DSB is responsible for passenger train operation on most of the Danish railways, go ...

were purchased and reclassified as the 14 class.Independent Rail Fleet
Vicsig.net In April 2009, Independent Rail purchased six 44 class locomotives from the

Hunter Valley Railway Trust The Hunter Valley Railway Trust (HVRT) is a collection of items located in North Rothbury it is not open to the public, New South Wales, Australia on the site of the Rothbury Riot. It includes various types of rolling stock, such as coal and fre ...

, having had them on lease for a while. It also purchased a 47 class from the LVR.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official site
Freight railway companies of Australia 1990 establishments in Australia Qube Holdings