Wagners wins rail contract

JOHN Wagner and his Wagners construction materials group have just got a nice little stocking stuffer in the lead-up to Christmas.

Emerging victorious in a competitive tender process, Wagners revealed yesterday that it had snared the contract to supply a good deal of the concrete for Brisbane’s Cross River Rail project.

The deal, expected to be worth about $40 million over a nine-month period starting late next year, will see Wagners manufacture all the precast concrete tunnel segments for the new 10.2km rail line stretching from Dutton Park to Bowen Hills.

The parts will be made at the company’s facility at

Wacol and then deployed in the rail line’s 5.9km of twin tunnels beneath the Brisbane River and CBD.

Wagners CEO Cameron Coleman said the company had been following the projects progress for a while.

“Wagners are really proud to be associated with the Cross River Rail project, which is going to deliver incredible benefits for the south-east

Queensland passenger transport network, along with the creation of job opportunities for many throughout the region,” Mr Coleman said.

“We have been following this project for a long time now, and we are very excited to be able to commence production from our precast manufacturing facility at Wacol next year.”

Unlike Wagners’ announcement last month that it had won a $35 million quarry operation and haulage contract for Adani’s deeply polarising Carmichael thermal coal project, the rail win is unlikely to spark any blowback from greenie protesters.

But other challenges remain.

The company, which saw its net profit fall about 40 per cent to $13.5 million last financial year, remains locked in a legal dispute with Boral and has acknowledged tough trading conditions.

An entitlement offer to raise $40 million fell short last month despite the Wagner family ponying up $22 million of that amount. It managed to attract $37.4 million, with the shortfall picked up by Morgans and their sub-underwriter.

Courier Mail