The two extra weekly freight services will travel the east-west routes
Australian rail freight business Pacific National will launch two additional weekly containerised freight services along east-west routes to give customers greater access to linehaul capacity.
The two new return services will go between Sydney and Perth each week, in line with plans to boost containerised volumes in its intermodal business.
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There’ll be two more Pacific National intermodal services running this year
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Pacific National’s extra services coincide with its plans to grow to cope with demand surges for containerised freight in 2022.
These growing demands have come since the re-opening of the Trans-Australian railway in February, which was forced to close after being affected by significant floods in January.
With the Omicron outbreak of COVID-19 also highlighting the benefits of hauling large volumes of goods and commodities safely over large distances by rail, the two new services will form a major part of an announced 10 per cent increase for 2022.
The move coincides with Pacific National’s plan to increase capacity for container movements on rail by more than a third in less than three years compared to pre-pandemic levels.
The first of the new services launches on March 16, while the second will begin operating on April 24.
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Both Advancepriority and Strandreserve booking options will be offered to all customers subject to availability to provide weekly reoccurring or more casual freight options.
“We recognised the need to meet increased demand for this more sustainable alternative mode of transport,” Pacific National CCO Andrew Thomson says.
“The increased capacity will allow us to continue to improve our service offering on these key freight lanes to make Australian supply chains more efficient and give our customers more options to access rail capacity for their business.”