Pacific National's Brisbane to Adelaide intermodal trains run...

Pacific National's Brisbane to Adelaide intermodal trains run twice a week in each direction and are usually only about 65 'platforms' (i.e. container spaces, as there are many so-called '5 pack' articulated wagons which are five 12.2 metre container spaces permanently coupled together).

This one is 77, but it has about 10-15 empty spaces. This is a lot shorter than trains operating across the Nullarbor that can be 80 to 100 wagons, with double stacking of containers also a feature. Due to bridges and tunnels, this isn't possible east of Parkes NSW or southeast of Adelaide SA.

These trains are a faster alternative to having (say) Brisbane to Perth loading transported on a Brisbane to Sydney intermodal and then shunted on to a Sydney-Parkes-Perth one. The Brisbane-Adelaide trains are often punctual and generally operate via delightfully named Quandialla, Cootamundra West and Goulburn NSW between Parkes and Sydney, the latter being on the Sydney-Melbourne main line, avoiding the Blue Mountains route from Sydney through Katoomba, Bathurst and Orange NSW.

Of the 65 or so occupied wagons/platforms, LAU has at least nine. Significant, and would not have been the case five years ago:


This LAU presence is a micro example of how the company's rail haulage has grown. The additional containers LAU has purchased as a result of the Scott's collapse will intensify this trend, subject as always to the health of the Australian economy with predicted further interest rate rises and inflation not helpful.