Rail freight and logistics company QR Ltd is set to complete another piece in its national footprint with the start of intermodal (container) services from Melbourne to Perth on 13 November. 

At 3pm on that day a train operated by QR’s QRNational Intermodal business will pull out of the North Dynon terminal in Melbourne bound for Forrestfield in Perth. 

QR Ltd (formerly Queensland Rail) operates services between Cairns and Adelaide but for the first time next month will be able to offer a national service after securing prime paths on the east-west corridor for three services per week. 

QR started intermodal services between Brisbane and Melbourne in 2004 and last year added Adelaide as a destination. 

"This will be a significant event in the 142 year history of QR because east-west services were the missing piece of our strategy to build a national freight business," said QR’s Acting Chief Executive Stephen Cantwell. 

"The objective underpinning this strategy is to provide our current and future customers with a competitive service on the east-west corridor while adding to our already established services on the east coast. 

"After securing prime pathing QRNational Intermodal can deliver customers’ products to Perth with freight available early in the morning on the day of arrival." 

QRNational Intermodal services will leave Melbourne on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays and arrive in Perth on Fridays, Sundays and Mondays, which are within the ‘market receival windows’ for deliveries to the Western Australian capital. 

"The market has been seeking an alternative on this corridor for a long time and we believe our entrance offers customers a real national choice from Cairns to Perth," Mr Cantwell said. 

"Truly commercially sustainable competition will enable the rail industry to take the forefront in the anticipated growth of the freight sector into the next 10 years and QRNational’s launch into the important Perth corridor enhances our position for customers to get their freight on an environmentally sustainable platform in this growing corridor." 

The new QRNational Intermodal services will arrive at a temporary facility at Forrestfield for up to six months while a new facility is built at the site in Perth’s Industrial hub.

QR has implemented its national strategy via organic growth and acquisitions which have included INTERAIL in 2002, CRT Group in 2005 and ARG in 2006. 

The latest acquisition was in August when CRT bought Golden Bros, a family-owned logistics company. 

CRT is a national business providing specialised transport and logistics solutions to customers in the polymer, food and industrial sectors, with six national distribution centres and employing over 300 personnel. 

The acquisition supports QR’s strategy of providing a fully integrated national logistics service.