Ballarat North Workshops

Ballarat North Workshops

Ballarat North Workshops is a railway workshop located in the provincial city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. They are located in the suburb of North Ballarat on Creswick Road, and occupy 5.5 hectares of land beside the junction of the Mildura and Serviceton railway lines.

History

The workshops were opened in April 1917 by the main rail operator in Victoria, the Victorian Railways. They were opened in response to political pressures from provincial groups for decentralisation, with the Victorian Railways preferring the cheaper option of expanding the existing Newport Workshops in suburban Melbourne.cite book |author=Lee, Robert |title=The Railways of Victoria 1854-2004 |publisher=Melbourne University Publishing Ltd |date=2007 |isbn= 9780522851342 |page=page 144] The main work carried out was repairs and maintenance of existing wagons and locomotives, however, but from 1919-22 a small number of new steam locomotives were also built. [cite web
url=http://museumvictoria.com.au/railways/theme.aspx?lvl=3&IRN=504&gall=689
title=Victorian Railways: Country Workshops
publisher=Museum Victoria
accessdate=2008-08-02
] By the 1960s goods wagons were also being built, and by the 1980s work was also being carried out on Melbourne suburban electric multiple units.

The 1980s were also a time of restructuring, with run down facilities replaced and modernised, but a large number of the 540 employees were made redundant. [Electrical Trade Union (April 2005). "ETU News". page 24.] With the breakup of the Victorian Railways the workshops passed to the State Transport Authority and then the Public Transport Corporation. With privatisation the workshops were sold to Alstom Australia in 1999 for $7 million. [cite web
url=http://www.robertclark.net/news/990813coop.htm
title=VPN - Alstom buys Ballarat railway workshops
publisher=Robert Clark
accessdate=2008-08-02
] In 2005 Alstom sold their Australian operations to United Group, including the workshops at Ballarat. [cite web
url=http://www.au.alstom.com/home/newsroom/press_archive/29275.EN.php?languageId=EN&dir=/home/newsroom/press_archive/
title=ALSTOM signs agreement with UNITED GROUP for sale of Australia & New Zealand transport business
author=ALSTOM Australia & New Zealand
publisher=www.au.alstom.com
accessdate=2008-08-02
]

Operations

Today workshops provide maintenance services to a number of Victorian Railway operators and employ 150 staff. Work includes manufacturing, reconditioning and component overhaul work for Melbourne's train and tram networks, V/Line Passenger, Freight Australia and Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia. [cite web
url=http://www.thecourier.com.au/news/local/news/general/future-of-150-jobs-remains-in-limbo/234516.aspx
title=Future of 150 jobs remains in limbo
date=11/07/2004
work=The Courier
publisher=www.thecourier.com.au
accessdate=2008-08-02
]

Recent work include the work on suburban trains for Connex Melbourne, including the refurbishment of Comeng and Hitachi trains, as well as the fitout of new Alstom X'Trapolis 100 trains inported from France. [cite web
url=http://www.doi.vic.gov.au/Doi/Internet/transport.nsf/AllDocs/FFA3D0CED06297F14A256B7200065E5A?OpenDocument
title=Public transport - New and refurbished trains and trams
publisher=www.doi.vic.gov.au
accessdate=2008-08-02
] It has also fitted Train Protection & Warning System equipment to the V/Line fleet, [cite web
url=http://www.dpc.vic.gov.au/domino/Web_Notes/newmedia.nsf/798c8b072d117a01ca256c8c0019bb01/915ecc2adbb9832fca25704d0006e9b5?OpenDocument
title=BALLARAT WINS MAJOR TRAIN SAFETY CONTRACT
work=Media Release: MINISTER FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORT
date=July 28, 2005
publisher=www.dpc.vic.gov.au
accessdate=2008-08-02
] and constructed 61 new 100-tonne bulk grain hoppers for Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia. [cite web
url=http://www.rtbu-nat.asn.au/612.html
title=Rail, Tram & Bus Industry Union National Office: Know the boss
publisher=www.rtbu-nat.asn.au
accessdate=2008-08-02
]

References

External links

* [http://www.railgeelong.com/gallery/melbourne-ballarat/ballarat-workshops Photos of the workshops today]


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