UGL Rail

UGL Rail (formerly A Goninan & Co (Rail Transportation Equipment (Goninan, 1980) Retrieved 3 February 2026) is an Australian rail company specialising in building, maintaining and refurbishing diesel locomotives, diesel and electric multiple units and freight wagons. It is a subsidiary of UGL and is based in Melbourne, with a staff of 1,200 across Australia and Asia. It operates factories in Broadmeadow (Newcastle), Spotswood and Bassendean. While it used to operate a factory in Taree, the plant was shut down and the equipment sold off.

History

Founded in Australia in 1899 by Cornish brothers Alfred and Ralph Goninan as an engineering and manufacturing company for the coal industry, A Goninan & Co Limited was incorporated as a public company in 1905.Goninan, Alfred (1865–1953) Australian Dictionary of Biography

It entered the rail business in 1917 via Commonwealth Steel Products Company of Waratah, Newcastle, a wheel and axle manufacturer, because those items could no longer be imported from Belgium due to World War I. A Goninan & Co moved to more convenient freehold land at Broadmeadow in 1919 and built a flourishing business in general engineering. It made pitheads, boilers, wagons and a huge, cast 41-ton block for the district's coal trade. In October 1964, A Goninan & Co was purchased by Howard Smith.

In August 1999, A Goninan & Co was sold to United Group and re-branded United Goninan."United Group Buys Goninan from Howard Smith" Railway Digest October 1999 page 12 In 2005, it was renamed United Group Rail, as part of a reorganisation following United Group's purchase of Alstom's Australian subsidiary, Alstom Transport Australia and New Zealand.United to acquire rail business Alstom Sydney Morning Herald 2 June 2005

Factories While most items were manufactured at Broadmeadow, it did purchase Comeng's Bassendean, Western Australia plant. This plant rebuilt many Pilbara Alco locomotives with General Electric components in the 1990s as well as building 17 Westrail P class and 60 NR class locomotives.

In 1983, a factory was established in Townsville to fulfill a contract for Queensland Railways 2600 class locomotives that required them to be built locally. It later built the 2800 class.

As part of UGL's acquisition of Alstom Australia and New Zealand in 2005, UGL leased Alstom's workshops at Ballarat North from then until 2012.

Products National 14 Australian National EL class diesel locomotives 120 National Rail NR class diesel locomotives 137 C44aci diesel locomotives

New South Wales 6 New South Wales 43 class diesel locomotives 20 New South Wales 47 class diesel locomotives 5 stainless steel power vans 150 S set (Goninan) EMU carriages 160 K set EMU carriages 56 C set EMU carriages 455 Tangara EMU carriages 196 Oscar EMU carriages 14 Hunter DMU carriages 12 QR National 5000 class diesel locomotives 19 QR National 5020 class diesel locomotives

Victoria 1 4D EMU carriages 22 V/Line Sprinter DMU carriages

Queensland 3 Queensland Railways 1150 class diesel locomotives 13 Queensland Rail 2600 class diesel locomotives 50 Queensland Rail 2800 class diesel locomotives 3 UGL Rail PH37ACmai diesel locomotives

Western Australia 20 Western Australia ADL/ADC class DMU carriages 17 Westrail P class diesel locomotives 9 Prospector/Avonlink DMU carriages 3 GE C36-7 diesel Locomotive, built in 1978 for Hamersley & Robe River railway

Hong Kong Refurbishment of 762 MTR Metro Cammell M-stock carriages for MTR Hong Kong Light Rail 20 Phase 3 LRV UGL and CSR Corporation Limited Hong Kong Light Rail 22 Phase 4 LRV (Design)

New South Wales Sydney Metro UGL is a part of Metro Trains Sydney which constructed and now operates the Sydney Metro NorthwestSydney Metro Northwest – case study UGL Rail

New Intercity Fleet UGL is a member of the RailConnect NSW consortium, a joint venture between UGL, Hyundai Rotem and Mitsubishi Electric, which has designed and will build and maintain more than 500 New South Wales D set train carriages. Delivery commenced in the second half of 2019. Maintenance will be carried out at the Kangy Angy Maintenance Centre.New Intercity Fleet UGL

UGL Unipart UGL Rail has been responsible for the maintenance of all of Sydney Trains EMU fleet at Maintrain, Auburn since March 1994 following the closure of Electric Carriage Workshops and Eveleigh Carriage Workshops."Goninan's Maintrain Centre Officially Opened" Railway Digest May 1994 page 9 In the early 1990s, A Goninan & Co refurbished S and V sets at Broadmeadow as part of the Citydecker program.

Since December 2011, UGL Unipart, a 70:30 joint venture with Unipart, has maintained most of CityRail and later Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink's EMU fleet.UGL Unipart CIMIC Group

Maintenance on H sets was initially carried out at Eveleigh but from 2018 is done at other depots with major work done at Maintrain, Auburn as for other types of Sydney Trains sets. The contract to maintain 1,050 Sydney Trains carriages including H and V sets was extended for two years from 1 July 2019.UGL secures $277M extension with Sydney Trains UGL 31 January 2019 Country Regional Network In January 2022, UGL Regional Linx (UGLRL) became responsible for operating and maintaining the NSW Country Regional Network (CRN) under a 10-year contract. It took over from John Holland Group.

Metro Trains Melbourne UGL Rail owns 20% of Metro Trains Melbourne, the consortium that has run Melbourne's metro railway network since November 2009.Melbourne's trains to get Metro brand Railway Gazette International 3 September 2009

Adelaide In July 2020, UGL Rail became responsible for maintenance of the Glenelg tram line in Adelaide as part of the Torrens Connect consortium.Adelaide Bus and Public Transport Contracts Announced Australasian Bus & Coach 10 March 2020UGL and John Holland to operate Adelaide trams Metro Report International 12 March 2020

Auckland In January 2022, Auckland One Rail, a conglomerate of UGL Rail and ComfortDelGro commenced an initial eight-year contract to operate trains on the Auckland suburban rail network, taking over from Transdev Auckland.

UGL Rail

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