Aurizon will sell Redbank rail yards

AURIZON has announced it will sell its rail maintenance yards at Redbank, but lease the facility back until 2017.

THE Redbank rail maintenance yards will be developed into industrial land after Aurizon announced their sale.

But the buyer will not rule out a rail future at Redbank.

Aurizon on Wednesday said it would sell the facility to property developers Goodman, which owns the adjacent Redbank Motorway Estate, but lease it back until 2017 when the facility will close.

Rail, Tram and Bus Union secretary Owen Doogan said the news would have little impact on workers with the facility still set to close in June, 2017.

"It's neither good nor bad news," he said.

"If they had reconsidered closing it, or sold it to an organisation that would continue to operate it - that would be the best news I could hope for."

Goodman Australian Queensland general manager Daniel Brekan said while it likely would be eventually amalgamated into the Redbank Motorway Estate, its rail links were an important to the site.

"Certainly the rail aspects were considered by us. It's a highly strategic decision," he said.

Mr Brekan suggested freight could be brought into the site on the rail lines.

He said buying the site was a long-term decision for Goodman and no development would be done until the lease with Aurizon was completed.

"It has a lot of future development potential," he said.

Mr Brekan said Goodman had secured major investors in the Redbank Motorway Estate including logistics companies TNT and DB Schenker.

Aurizon will centralise maintenance facilities in Rockhampton - closer to its central Queensland coal operations.

A statement from Aurizon said the sale to Goodman was in line with a strategy to "reduce costs" and sell "non-core assets".

"Given the changing nature of the rail business, Goodman (as one of the largest industrial developers globally) provided a more commercially aligned proposition given their adjoining industrial development and diverse mix of tenants that may utilise intermodal activities," it read.

The statement said the companies were committed to "exploring further strategic development opportunities" regarding other Aurizon assets.

- APN NEWSDESK