El Zorro was an Australian railway operator hauling freight and infrastructure trains in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

and

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

History

El Zorro was founded in 1999 by Ray Evans who had a taste for things Spanish, El Zorro being Spanish for ''the fox''. At the time of liquidation, the company had two shareholders: director Ray Evans, and ex-director Lisa Trezise. Geoff Tighe, a co-founder and past shareholder and director, was formerly chief executive of

Great Northern Rail Services Great Northern Rail Services was a railway operator in Victoria, Australia. Great Northern Rail Services was incorporated in July 1993 and provided locomotives and train crews to other rail operators, ran general train operations (freight and pas ...

, a now defunct operator which provided locomotives and crews to other operators in Victoria until November 2002.The Fox Gets on Track
Business Review Australia In 2004, the company won a contract from QR National subsidiary

Interail Interail was an Australian rail freight operator owned by QR National. In June 2011 it ceased trading as a separate brand, and became part of QR National (now known as Aurizon). Northern Rivers Railroad Northern Rivers Railroad was establish ...

, to provide crews for its

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

rail service on the southern leg from

Junee Junee () is a medium-sized town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. The town's prosperity and mixed services economy is based on a combination of agriculture, rail transport, light industry and government services, and in par ...

to Melbourne. The company was an accredited rail operator in

and

operating freight and infrastructure trains. In December 2006, El Zorro commenced operating a contract for P&O Trans Australia to operate container trains between

's Swanson Dock and an

intermodal container An intermodal container, often called a shipping container, is a large standardized shipping container, designed and built for intermodal freight transport, meaning these containers can be used across different Mode of transport, modes of trans ...

terminal at

Somerton Somerton may refer to: Places Australia * Somerton, New South Wales * Somerton Park, South Australia, a seaside Adelaide suburb ** Somerton Man, unsolved case of an unidentified man found dead in 1948 on the Somerton Park beach * Somerton, Victoria ...

. In August 2007, El Zorro was awarded a contract by AWB to operate two grain trains, one standard gauge, one broad gauge in Victoria and New South Wales. In December 2007, when

Pacific National Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses. History In February 2002, National Rail Corporation, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock (owned by the Government of Australia, Federal, Government of New ...

announced that it was scaling back its Victorian operations, El Zorro who were the only other grain operator, admitted that the logistics of moving an entire Victorian wheat harvest were beyond its capabilities at the time, its fleet comprising only two T class locomotives and 80 wagons. The first El Zorro grain train was operated on the standard gauge on 11 December 2007, and the first broad gauge grain train on 18 January 2008. In April 2008, El Zorro took over the Westvic Container Handling

Warrnambool Warrnambool ( Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Warrnambool had a population of 35,743. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool (Al ...

container service from

before it returned to Pacific National in October 2008. Problems El Zorro faced in running the service included a lack of broad gauge locomotives and container wagons, the removal of

crossing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...

s on the line by infrastructure manager

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross ...

, which resulted in late running and delays, and the inability to carry high cube containers though the Geelong tunnel due to a lack of low platform wagons. In August 2008, AWB awarded El Zorro a new five-year contract to operate four trains moving grain throughout Victoria and New South Wales. To operate these 84 WGBY standard gauge wagons were purchased by AWB Limited from China for this work and delivered in 2009. These were followed by 90 WGSY wagons in 2010 for both standard and broad gauge use. In September 2008, miner

Iluka Resources Iluka Resources is an Australian-based resources company, specialising in mineral sands exploration, project development, operations and marketing. Iluka is the largest producer of zircon and titanium dioxide-derived rutile and synthetic rutil ...

awarded El Zorro a contract to haul containerised

mineral sands Heavy mineral sands are a class of ore deposit which is an important source of zirconium, titanium, thorium, tungsten, rare-earth elements, the industrial minerals diamond, sapphire, garnet, and occasionally precious metals or gemstones. Heavy m ...

from

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

. Trains would run three times a week carrying 40 containers making up a load of 1,000 tonnes. In October 2008, the company operated a trial service to the Gippsland Intermodal Freight Terminal outside

Morwell Morwell is a town in the Latrobe Valley area of Gippsland, in South-Eastern Victoria, Australia approximately 152 km (94 mi) east of Melbourne. Morwell has a population of 14,389 people at the . It is both the seat of local governme ...

, in what was the first train to use the facility in almost three years. El Zorro was said to be in talks with local companies who wanted to utilise rail freight. In December 2008, El Zorro started supplying rolling stock to

Regional Rail Logistics Regional Rail Logistics was a rail freight operator based in New South Wales, Australia. They operated containerised freight services three days a week between the Riverina towns of Junee and Cootamundra to Port Botany in Sydney, using rolling ...

, a New South Wales based freight operator running services from the

Riverina The Riverina is an agricultural region of south-western New South Wales, Australia. The Riverina is distinguished from other Australian regions by the combination of flat plains, warm to hot climate and an ample supply of water for irrigation ...

region to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Financial difficulties

In May 2013,

Consolidated Rail Leasing Consolidated Rail Leasing is an Australian locomotive and rolling stock leasing company. It was formed in 2012 as a subsidiary of Southern Shorthaul Railroad. It was formerly known as BRM Leasing. In February 2013, the operational fleet consi ...

filed a petition in the

Supreme Court of New South Wales The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court i ...

to wind up El Zorro. El Zorro director Ray Evans said cash flow problems had been caused by agricultural products distributor

Cargill Cargill, Incorporated, is a privately held American global food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865, it is the largest privately held corporation in the United States in ter ...

refusing to pay his company for work carried out during the previous four weeks. Evans said that although El Zorro owed Cargill $2 million as a long-term debt, there was a repayment plan in place, which was not being fulfilled. Due to this Cargill had recently stopped all payments to the rail operator. Michael Vines president of the

Victorian Goldfields Railway The Victorian Goldfields Railway is a broad gauge tourist railway in Victoria, Australia. It operates along a formerly disused branch line between the towns of Maldon and Castlemaine. History The original line was opened on 16 June 1884, open ...

, which leased a locomotive to El Zorro through the

Seymour Railway Heritage Centre The Seymour Railway Heritage Centre (SRHC) is a railway preservation group based in Seymour, Victoria, Australia. The volunteer non-profit incorporated association was established in 1983 as the Seymour Loco Steam Preservation Group to restor ...

, said in a newsletter that his organisation had not been paid for nine months for the use of the locomotive. At the same time, the NSW branch of the Rail Tram and Bus Union said it was talking to legal representatives over El Zorro's failure to pay full superannuation entitlements to its members since February 2013. The Seymour Railway Heritage Centre was reportedly owed more than $1 million in relation to the hiring of the centre's rolling stock to the company. The company ceased trading on 4 June 2013. The

Australian Securities & Investments Commission The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an independent commission of the Australian Government tasked as the national corporate regulator. ASIC's role is to regulate company and financial services and enforce laws to pro ...

listed El Zorro Transport Pty Ltd as being under external administration following the submission of documents on 14 June. The company subsequently entered liquidation with the liquidators, HoskingHurst, appointed by the Supreme Court of NSW.

Services

Services formerly operated by El Zorro included: *Containerised mineral sands between

and

*Grain trains for AWB in Victoria and New South Wales *Infrastructure trains for

Fleet

Locomotives accredited to be operated by El Zorro on hire from others as at December 2012 included those owned by Australian Locolease, AWB, CFCLA,

Genesee & Wyoming Genesee & Wyoming Inc. (G&W) is an American short line railroad holding company, that owns or maintains an interest in 122 railroads in the United States, Canada, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom and formerly Australia. It operates ...

Greentrains Greentrains is a locomotive and rolling stock leasing company in Australia. It was formed in June 2008 as a subsidiary of Coote Industrial. In 2008, Coote Industrial subsidiary Gemco Rail acquired 42 locomotives and 54 wagons from the distress ...

Junee Railway Workshop The Junee Railway Workshop is an accredited rail operator that maintains and repairs locomotives and rolling stock from its base at Junee Locomotive Depot. History Junee Railway Workshop was formed in January 1995 as Austrac Ready Power. It pur ...

and

SCT Logistics SCT Logistics is an Australian interstate transport company operating rail and road haulage, with facilities in Brisbane, Sydney, Parkes, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. History SCT Logistics was founded in 1974 as Specialised Container Tran ...

as well as various preservation organisations including

707 Operations 707 Operations is a railway preservation group based in Melbourne, Australia. The volunteer organisation was established in 1980 to restore R class locomotive R707. The company has its own section of the Newport Workshops that is used for stori ...

, Diesel Electric Rail Motor Preservation Association of Victoria,

South Gippsland Railway The South Gippsland Railway was a tourist railway located in South Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. It controlled a section of the former South Gippsland railway line between Nyora and Leongatha, and operated services from Leongatha to Nyora, vi ...

Steamrail Victoria Steamrail Victoria is a not-for-profit volunteer group established in 1965 to restore and operate historic locomotives and rolling stock used on the Rail transport in Victoria, railways in Victoria, Australia. The main depot of the group is at ...

and

. They also included locomotives owned by RLG, a related entity of El Zorro: S302, T386, TL152, TL154, TL155 and Y145.Network Access - Information Pack
V/Line T386 was the first locomotive to receive any El Zorro branding, receiving a ''Z'' painted on the end of each hood. In May 2008, Y145 was the first locomotive to be painted into El Zorro's grey, orange and yellow livery. In January 2009, South Gippsland Railway's T342 was painted in El Zorro livery after being hired on a long lease. In August 2009, S302 was also repainted in to the corporate livery. El Zorro made approaches to acquire unwanted rolling stock from competitor

, but were told that rolling stock would be scrapped or exported. Wagons included container flats, open wagons, rail transporters, and ballast hoppers. Grain hoppers, sleeper discharge wagons, container flats, and ballast hoppers were also leased by the company.

References

External links

Archived copy of El Zorro website
{{FormerVictorianRailCompanies Defunct railway companies of Australia Railway companies established in 1999 Railway companies disestablished in 2013 1999 establishments in Australia 2013 disestablishments in Australia