This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
6/30/2023
Western Australia's CBH Group yesterday announced it signed an agreement with Wabtec Corp. to acquire 17 narrow-gauge locomotives, a move that will more than double the size of the cooperative’s rail fleet.
The first tranche of five Wabtec CM20ACi dual-cab, diesel-electric locomotives will arrive in Australia in March 2026 and will be operational soon after, with the remaining 12 locomotives due to arrive in June 2026, Wabtec and CBH officials said in a press release. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
A leader in the Australian grain industry, CBH opened three requests for proposals in 2022 for the purchase of standard-gauge locomotives, narrow-gauge locomotives and wagons to expand and strengthen its current rail fleet, which consists of 25 locomotives and 572 wagons.
In December 2022, CBH announced an order for seven standard-gauge locomotives, scheduled to be in Australia and operational by November 2024.
The agreement with Wabtec will increase CBH’s narrow-gauge locomotive fleet to 37, said CBH CEO Ben Macnamara.
"Our rail fleet is a key asset for the co-operative and expanding our existing train sets is a strategic priority that is critical for us to achieve CBH's 'Path to 2033' strategy that aims to lift our monthly export capacity to 3 million tonnes by 2033 or sooner," he said.
CBH's strategy is focused on incrementally increasing the cooperative’s monthly export capacity to reach a peak of 3 million tonnes by 2033, or sooner.
"These [Wabtec] locomotives will enable CBH to increase grain shipments and drive CO2 emission reductions by moving more grain via rail," said Wendy McMillan, Wabtec’s senior regional vice president of Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand.