{"id":220327,"date":"2025-05-20T10:52:54","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T00:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=220327"},"modified":"2026-02-10T12:26:03","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T02:26:03","slug":"more-than-120-downer-jobs-at-risk-after-queensland-rail-rejects-tilt-train-proposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=220327","title":{"rendered":"More than 120 Downer jobs at risk after Queensland Rail rejects tilt train proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the fate of more than 120 manufacturing workers hangs in the balance, Queensland Rail says it is “re-scoping” its search for who will carry out significant works on its diesel tilt trains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manufacturing powerhouse Downer, which is building trains for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games, announced earlier this month that a reduced workload had prompted “potential” redundancy talks with staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has more than 250 employees in the city of Maryborough, three hours north of Brisbane, and 122 of those are at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday Manufacturing Minister Dale Last said workers facing redundancies would be offered jobs at Downer’s new Torbanlea facility, where 65 trains for the Olympics are to be built.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said that project would create about 800 jobs, some of which would become available this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Certainly the employees that are engaged here in the construction of [the Torbanlea] facility and the employees at the facility in Maryborough, they will be offered those jobs first and foremost,” Mr Last said.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Queensland Rail says Downer will have the opportunity to win a tender for the rejected contract. (ABC Wide Bay: James Taylor)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Queensland Rail’s (QR) rejection of a direct proposal from Downer to overhaul the diesel tilt train fleet is believed to be a reason behind the regional company’s reduced workload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Downer’s original proposal under a partnership alliance to undertake a major overhaul of the diesel tilt train fleet was unable to be approved by Queensland Rail as it did not represent value for money,” a QR spokesperson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This was verified by an independent estimator.”<\/p>\n\n\n

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The rejection of the proposal has cast doubt on the future of 122 jobs. (ABC News \u2014 file photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

QR said it was working with Downer on other major manufacturing projects, including the South East Queensland fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spokesperson said there would be another opportunity for the Maryborough facility to win the contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Queensland Rail is now re-scoping the diesel tilt train overhaul project,” they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Downer will then have the opportunity to undertake this work via a fair tender process.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

‘A matter for the board’<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The company made its announcement on May 1 and a week later Opposition Leader Steven Miles blamed the LNP for the “terrible implications” of job losses in Maryborough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Transport Minister Brett Mickelberg rejected that accusation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’ve had no role in this decision \u2026 operational decisions for Queensland Rail are a matter for the board,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

University of Queensland transport engineering professor Mark Hickman said state legislation gave free rein to the QR board to make decisions in the best interests of Queenslanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I think the interpretation that the minister bears responsibility for this kind of a decision is not true in light of the way that the Queensland Rail board functions,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“They do like to keep the minister informed about specific, very important and high-level decision making, but generally they wouldn’t normally get the minister involved in those sorts of decisions.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

State legislation requires the board to comply with a direction from the minister, but Dr Hickman said it would be unusual for Mr Mickelberg to use this power to force the rejection of the Downer proposal to be overturned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They are required statutorily to follow the directions of the minister,” Dr Hickman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But that is a fairly rare occurrence that only happens in very rare cases.”<\/p>\n\n\n

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Brett Mickelberg says the government will “do whatever it takes” to retain manufacturing jobs in Maryborough. (ABC Wide Bay: James Taylor)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

ABC News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The company has more than 250 employees in the city of Maryborough, three hours north of Brisbane, and 122 of those are at risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":220328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[167,47],"tags":[16790,10334,7465],"class_list":["post-220327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-queensland-rail","category-rail-news","tag-downer","tag-maryborough","tag-queensland"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t