West Coast Railway (Victoria)

West Coast Railway was a passenger train company operating in Victoria, Australia that operated services between Melbourne and Warrnambool from 19 September 1993 until 31 August 2004. The travel time for the journey (Warrnambool – Melbourne) was around 3 hours.^[1] This is on average around 30 minutes quicker than the current journeys.^[2]

West Coast Railway was formed on 19 September 1993 when the Kennett State Government offered long-distance country rail services previously run by the government-owned operator V/Line to private operators. Bids were lodged in February 1993 and The Victorian Railway Company Pty Ltd, trading as West Coast Railway^[3] was announced as the successful tender on 30 April the same year.^[4] A trial period of a year, starting from 19 September 1993, was deemed successful with a seven year contract signed the following September.^[5][3] Subsequently, a three-year extension was negotiated.^[6]

While most other rail services tendered were replaced by road coach services, West Coast Railway successfully tendered to retain a rail service.^[7] During the 11 years of WCR operation of the line, patronage increased by 20%.^[8] The first rail service under WCR operated on 19 September when V/Line locomotive N466 hauled the 17:00 Warrnambool to Melbourne Spencer Street service.^[9]

In August 2001, Connex purchased a 50% shareholding.^[10] Donald Gibson and Gary McDonald continued to hold the other 50% shareholding.^[11] In 2003, Connex sold its shareholding to Australian Public Trustees.^[12]

On 26 June 2001, the two directors of the company Gibson and McDonald bought a 50% share in Tranz Scenic, the national passenger operator in New Zealand, withdrawing some long-distance trains that were not profitable.^[13][14][11] In May 2004, the TranzScenic shareholding was sold back to Toll NZ.^[13][15]

A blue, white, yellow and grey livery was adopted, and was progressively applied to all West Coast Railway rolling stock.

West Coast Railway initially purchased ten B and S Class locomotives, former Southern Aurora dining car RMS2360, four CP and one VZDY former guard's vans, and eleven total D, VBCW and VLCX vans, for a total of 27 items of rolling stock.^[3]In mid-1994, four South Australian 700-class carriages were also purchased, with carriage 711 being the first to enter service. A five-year lease was also taken out on a portion of the Ballarat East workshops for maintenance works, which V/Line had ceased using in 1992.^[3] As of February 1995, three S Class and one B Class locomotives were in service, along with the four CP vans. It was expected at the time that the six D vans would be used for mobile storage, while the VLCX and VBCW vans would be used at and between Warrnambool and Ballarat East yards.^[3]

Rail Safety Accreditation was obtained circa 1995, at which point West Coast Railway was able to purchase the three, four-car Z sets that they had been leasing from V/Line and which were deemed surplus with delivery of the Sprinter railcars.^[3] These carriages were painted in the same scheme as the locomotives and vans then in service, using silicon alkyl gloss enamels formulated by Haymes Paints in Ballarat.^[3] Initial plans were for the company to lease a portion of Newport Workshops' West Block, but that later changed to daily cleaning and maintenance being based in Warrnambool, with heavy works being undertaken at Ballarat East. To provide the necessary facilities at Warrnambool, a shed was disassembled and removed from Spencer Street yards, transported to Warrnambool, and re-erected and extended to provide the necessary facilities.^[3]

As of early 1995, West Coast Railway had also won a tender let by the City of Greater Bendigo to restore steam locomotive R711, and was involved in projects related to diesel-electric locomotive T411 and steam locomotives J536 and Y112. To enable regular heritage operation, the water tower at Birregurra was confirmed to be still be serviceable, and another was relocated from Elmore to Ballarat East for reconditioning, after which it would be installed at Colac.^[3]

The first West Coast Railway train to operate out of the Ballarat East locomotive depot was for a commercial filmed at Lethbridge Quarry on 15 February 1995. This train used borrowed locomotive T413, West Coast Railway van CP292 and carriage BK711, and heritage cars from Steamrail Ballarat 32ABU-32AV-600ZD.^[16][17] Shortly thereafter, locomotives T363 and T369 were purchased from the Public Transport Corporation and delivered to Ballarat East on 1 March 1995.^[17]

After acquisition of the 12 carriages formed as three Z sets, seven additional carriages were purchased in June 1995 - BS201, BS206, BS208, BS210, BRS223, BRS229, and Overland sleeping carriage Nankuri. The BRS carriages were brought into service almost immediately to help cover for the four carriages still damaged following the Werribee derailment of 2 September 1995, though the four BS carriages required repairs before they could re-enter service.^[18]

West Coast Railway operated rolling stock that was notable for being largely made up of 50-year-old locomotives including a steam locomotive, and some rolling stock bought from V/Line. They replaced the 1980s-built locomotives and rolling stock that had previously operated on the line, and contrasted with the successful tenderer for the Shepparton line rail service from Hoys Roadlines, which decided to lease rolling stock from V/Line.^[19]

The locomotives owned by West Coast Railway were:

The first locomotive to be fully overhauled was S300, which began trials on 23 January 1995, entering regular service two weeks later. The railway workshop at Ballarat East was leased by the company as its heavy maintenance base, with transfer runs being made via the Geelong to Ballarat line.^[9]

Specially modified R class steam locomotives were used to operate a Saturday return service,^[24][25][26] becoming the fastest regular steam-hauled passenger service in the world.^[27] R711 entered service on regular trains on 21 November 1998 and was fitted with multiple unit control equipment so that it could be used in conjunction with diesel electric locomotives. It was followed by R766 in 2001.^[9]

The final locomotive painted out of the WCR corporate livery was T369 in 2008.

The carriages purchased were S and Z-type steel-bodied passenger carriages built between 1937 and 1959.^[28]

The carriages purchased by West Coast Railway were:

In addition to this, West Coast Railway purchased several luggage and power vans for use in their services:

As well as operating regular Warrnambool passenger services, West Coast Railway also ran charter services and operated special excursion trains to various destinations within Victoria, often in conjunction with The South Western Railway Society. The company assisted with the restoration of a number of steam locomotives. R711 and Y112 were made operational, and work was carried out on J536, D3 638, D3 641, and A2 986.^[9]

The company also took advantage of Victoria's newly privatised rail freight market by hiring its T class locomotives to freight operators, as well as its mainline fleet of B class and S class on occasions.

West Coast Railway encountered a series of operational difficulties during 2003/04 which adversely affected its business. The death of one of the company's founding principals, Gary McDonald, on 25 April 2003 removed the guiding light and spirit of the company.^[27] The closure of the Warrnambool line between Melbourne and Geelong for five weeks in January and February 2004, to allow its rebuilding as part of the 160 km/h (100 mph) Regional Fast Rail project, meant that the company had to replace rail services with road coaches during the period of the works, with a resulting drop in passenger numbers.^[8]

In May 2004 (two months after rail services had resumed), the Victorian Department of Infrastructure issued an alert on stress cracks on the underframes of the B class and S class locomotives, including the units owned by West Coast Railway.^[8] Once again the company was forced to replace two of its three daily-return rail services with road coaches.^[27]

There had also been a change in government transport policy following the election of the Bracks State Government. In light of the failure of privatisation of V/Line Passenger, then Opposition transport spokesman Geoff Leigh predicting the proposed re-tendering of statewide regional rail operations in 2006 would result in West Coast Railway being "executed".^[29]

Although West Coast Railway stated as late as May 2004 its intention to negotiate a new contract to operate Warrnambool services beyond the expiry of its existing contract in June 2004,^[30] with the expected locomotive repair bill to be in excess of $1 million it decided not to seek a renewal.^[8] On 31 August 2004, West Coast Railway operated its final services with V/Line resuming services the following day.^[31]

Most of the diesel locomotives were sold to Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia.^[32] R711 was allocated to Steamrail Victoria by its owners.

Other rollingstock was disposed of thus:

• V/Line Passenger purchased S302,^[33] ACZ252, ACZ257 and BZ267.

• 707 Operations purchased ACZ255, BZ270, BRS224, BS205 and BS212

• Steamrail Victoria purchased B64, BRS 229, BZ269, BS201, BS206, BS207, BK700, BK711, BK714

• Pacific National purchased BRS221, BRS222, BRS223 and BRS225 for use as crew cars

Beginning in 2018, the heritage rail tour company Steamrail Victoria introduced a new tour named the "Warrnambool Westcoaster" to Warrnambool as a special homage to the former regular steam services of West Coast Railway. The tour was hauled by ex-West Coast engine R711, which was allocated to Steamrail in 2004 and re-entered service in 2011. Originally operated as a charter for local resident and Steamrail volunteer Edward White, the tour was deemed extremely popular, becoming part of Steamrail's range of day tours from 2019 with heritage diesel S313 assisting.^[34]