CQ Fibreglass, Queensland Rail lease Rockhampton Railyards buildings
A Yeppoon business expanding its fibreglass manufacturing operation and a joint research project between Queensland Rail and CQUni are two of the tenants locked in for the historic railyard precinct.
Rockhampton
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Workers will officially return to the Rockhampton railyards workshops for the first time since Aurizon closed the site in 2018, with tenants finally secured.
Almost five years to the date of when 181 workers went to work for the last time at the Depot Hill site, new tenants for some of the buildings on Thursday gathered to announce their plans.
Yeppoon-based business CQ Fibreglass Direct will relocate and expand at the site, taking up two of the buildings, and double their workforce, which is currently a staff of 25.
The company is a composite manufacturer, focused on building mining components out of fibreglass, and is eager to explore train manufacturing.
“It will allow us to create synergies with other local workforces as well and diversify the business into new sectors, renewables and other areas,” director Steven Trevor said.
Queensland Rail will also return to the site and partner with CQUniversity on a $3.5 million research centre, which will trial the replacement of diesel-powered locomotives with hydrogen battery-powered locomotives including engineering and design, mechanical fit outs, testing and commissioning.
“This research will deliver data on the viability of replacing diesel locomotives with hydrogen power and explore options for the development of a safe, reliable, efficient and sustainable alternative to diesel fuels in the future,” QR acting head of regional Scott Cornish said.
Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said it was a historic day for the city as hundreds of jobs were expected to flow.
“This is just the first two companies, we will have more to announce as we progress because it’s just a large site, 21 hectares, we have a lot of interest from other proponents as well,” he said.
The Queensland Government, under then-Premier Anna Bligh, sold off all public assets in 2010, including the Rockhampton railway workshops.
Aurizon, formerly QR National, took over the site and later closed it down in 2018, putting 181 employees out of a job in Rockhampton and another 126 workers at Gladstone, Stanwell and Bluff depots.
The site has been mostly sitting vacant in the five years since.
Under now-Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who was in cabinet with Bligh in 2010, the Queensland Government bought back the site in April 2022 for $21 million.
Expressions of interest for commercial tenancies in the buildings opened in July 2022, with 17 proposals received. It is expected more tenancies will be announced in stages.
The railway workshops have more than 16,000 sqm of existing floor space across 10 buildings, eight of which were up for public leasing, of various offices, lifting capabilities, stores, manufacturing, overhead cranes, a painting workshop and railway mechanics.
Hydrogen research, stabling, education, microbreweries, restaurants and community facilities were thrown around as possibilities for the sites.
The railway workshop and roundhouse were added to the Queensland Heritage Register in 1992, with buildings on the site dating back to the 1910s.
As part of the Queensland Government’s Rockhampton Railyards Rejuvenation project, remediation works are expected to take place in the coming months.
The works will include debris clearing, removal of broken-down demountable buildings of no historical significance, re-establishment of access points, existing gate infrastructure, line marking, parking areas and security and fire system installations.
In October 2020, Ms Palaszczuk made an election-promise rail manufacturing would return to Rockhampton, creating 500 additional jobs, however in the years since, this project or jobs figure has not been reconfirmed.
A $7.1 billion Queensland made Train Manufacturing Program was announced in 2021, of which the Rockhampton Railyards forms part of the supply chain.
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