UGL Rail

UGL Rail is an Australian rail company specialising in building, maintaining and refurbishing diesel locomotives, diesel & electric multiple units and freight wagons. It is a subsidiary of UGL Limited and is based in Melbourne, with a staff of 1,200 across Australia and Asia. It operates factories in Broadmeadow, Chullora, Spotswood and Bassendean. While it used to operate a factory in Taree, the plant has currently shut down and the equipment sold off.

History

Founded in Australia in 1899 by Cornish brothers Alfred and Ralph Goninan as an engineering and manufacturing company for the coal industry. A Goninan & Co Limited was incorporated as a public company in 1905.

It entered the rail business in 1917 via Commonwealth Steel Products Company of Waratah, Newcastle, a wheel and axle manufacturer because they could no longer be imported from Belgium due to World War I. A Goninan & Co moved to more convenient freehold land at Broadmeadow in 1919 and built a flourishing business in general engineering. They made pitheads, boilers, wagons and a huge, cast 41-ton block for the district's coal trade. In October 1964 A Goninan & Co was purchased by Howard Smith Limited.