The Workforce
Loram: 60 years of service in Australia
RG419, the most productive rail grinder in the Southern Hemisphere.
In June 2021, Loram passed a significant six-decade milestone in its delivery of heavy haulage and passenger services to the Australian rail industry. Loram’s history reflects the company’s evolving strategy, and in those 60 years has shown commitment to delivering innovative solutions and unrivalled service to its customers. Mannix Contractors Pty Ltd was registered in Australia June 1961 and it opened an office in Melbourne. It was soon bidding on civil construction projects in Australia within its expertise from major projects in Canada and the United States including the building of dams, mines, pipelines, highways and airports. It also notably included the construction of railways, which is how the family business first got its start in Canada in 1898. Like its other related entities, the company changed its name to Loram Contractors Pty Ltd in the 1970s. The first major Australian construction project was undertaken in joint venture between Morrison-Knudsen (M-K), Mannix, and McDonald Constructions to build the 193-mile Hamersley Railway in the Pilbara of WA, from Mount Tom Price to the port of King Bay starting in 1964. The Hamersley enabled the transport of iron ore from mine to port with what were then the heaviest axle loads in Australia. Innovative equipment was introduced, including the ‘Autotrack’, Ballast Sleds, tracklaying machines permitting 1000 foot lengths of rail, and patented track alignment equipment. The rail was laid in record time by Mannix crews that included many Torres Strait Islanders recruited in North Queensland. The Hamersley was completed for service and on schedule on 1 July 1966, despite Cyclone Shirley in May of that year. M-K and Mannix thereafter provided maintenance to the completed railway line. In 1967, the M-K, Mannix, and Oman joint
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venture (MKMO) started construction of 265 miles of grade, bridges and track for the Mt Newman Railroad. Again, Mannix rail-laying crews were largely composed of Torres Strait Islanders who laid an average of one mile per day. New innovative equipment was also employed, including a semi-automatic sleeper laying machine, and rail loading equipment for quarter-mile strings. In May 1968, 4.35 miles of track was laid in a single day to the 64-mile peg south of Port Hedland, smashing the previous world record of 2.88 miles set in the United States. This incredible feat required 32 strings of welded rail, 13,050 sleepers, 28,200 anchors and the driving of 52,200 spikes. A plaque commemorating this feat is located at the Don Rhodes Mining Museum in Port Hedland. The Mt Newman Railroad was completed
in 1969 and is now part of BHP’s WA Iron Ore network. The MKMO joint venture went on to extend the Hamersley from Tom Price to Paraburdoo from 1970 to 1972, and construct the Robe River Railway from Robe River to Cape Lambert from 1971 to 1972. Today, the Hamersley and Robe River form the Rio Tinto Iron Ore rail network. Various railway construction and maintenance jobs were won in the intervening years for customers including NSW Government Railway, Commonwealth Government Railways, South Australian Railways, and Western Australian Government Railways, and included pioneering equipment such as the Autosled, Double Track Plow, Ballast Sled, Multipurpose Machine, and Winch Cart. Loram formed a joint venture in 1983 with Tamper called Australasian Rail Services (ARS).
One of two Loram specialty grinders undergoing final assembly in the Pilbara in 2021.
