The Australian rail manufacturing industry will benefit from a new national procurement database that will provide a one-stop-shop of rollingstock projects.
The Australasian Railway Association (ARA) has welcomed the launch of the National Rolling Stock Procurement Pipeline, which will provide a snapshot of present and future rollingstock projects across states and territories.
The project is the first major initiative by the Office of National Rail Industry Coordination (ONRIC) under the Rail Procurement and Manufacturing Strategy to improve national coordination of rail manufacturing.
ARA CEO Caroline Wilkie said the pipeline follows extensive advocacy by the ARA for a national approach to a transparent procurement pipeline and is a huge win for not only industry but for local communities across Australia.
“The ARA has advocated strongly for measures to improve the transparency, certainty and coordination of a rail procurement pipeline to better support opportunities for local manufacturers of passenger and freight trains,” Wilkie said.
“The pipeline will provide a collaborative, transparent and more efficient system for procurement, supporting the growth of local businesses across the rail manufacturing supply chain.
“The centralised nature of this information allows industry improved visibility to support planning and investment.”
The pipeline enables procurers to assess the impact of the timing of their procurement decisions and should decrease boom and bust cyclical rail procurement. This enables capacity, skills and input costs to be better managed, ensuring a more sustainable rail supply chain.
The pipeline, developed by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources in consultation with industry, will include procurement location, estimated value, status, timeframe and type for new fleets and fleet upgrades and will include different rollingstock types, from heavy rail to light rail and metro.
The pipeline provides users with interactive graphs, a searchable data table and a customisable experience.
Explore the National Rolling Stock Procurement Pipeline at the website.
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