Pacific National has a strong focus on improving the way we do business, that includes maximising the efficiency of our locomotives.
Our fleet strategy is an enterprise plan that will renew aging fleets with state-of-the-art locomotives to deliver lower emissions and operating costs, improved productivity, reliability and availability.
We are also working on a wide range of transformation projects to deliver operational, commercial and environmental improvement.
Pacific National recognises the requirement to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) and reducing fuel use and associated emissions is a high priority.
Pacific National has a number of projects and systems in place to improve the resilience of the business and strengthen our environmental performance including:
The LEAN Railroading continual improvement methodology provides a suite of standardised business wide set of visual performance metrics designed to enable continual improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of the freight task. Daily, weekly and monthly LEAN Railroading meetings are conducted to monitor, review and improve the operations performance and total emissions intensity of the freight operations.
Having tested a range of bearing seals from a variety of manufacturers, Pacific National determined that certain seals lower wheel friction in our wagon wheels. Less friction lowers the required power to haul wagons and delivers an estimated 1 per cent reduction in fuel consumption. A change in bearing overhaul standard will now see these low friction seals fitted when the bearings are reconditioned, which is typically every three years.
Pacific National has been working with the manufacturers of our wagons to maximise wagon design within the limits of the Rolling Stock Outline, and have been able to decrease the length of the wagons, while maintaining capacity. This means Pacific National is able to increase the number of wagons per train while increasing the total train load delivering improvements in fuel intensity.
In November 2015, Pacific National was successful in securing a Carbon Abatement Contract at the second Emissions Reduction Fund auction with the Clean Energy Regulator. Initiatives such as these contribute to the delivery of our contracted GHG emissions of 362,500 tCO2e over a 7-year period.
Pacific National continues to explore energy and emission reduction opportunities in other parts of the business too. The Nebo Train Support Facility (NTSF) is the largest consumer of electricity power in Pacific National’s Queensland coal business. We have recently completed an energy efficiency lighting upgrade and installation of solar panels to reduce the imported electricity supply by over 400 Mwh per annum. We are currently reviewing other large electricity consuming sites across the business to assess expansion of the solar and lighting efficiency initiative.
Our CEO Dean Dalla Valle is currently Chair of FORG of Australia – a rail freight industry advocacy group established in 2015 to engage with government and key stakeholders on major public policy issues.
Additionally, the Rail Industry Safety and Standards Board (RISSB) Code of Practice – Management of Locomotive Exhaust Emissions was published in December 2018, with all rail operators now committed to meeting the Code and reporting against the Code annually.
