page_title: CBH Group
section_title: Transport
hierarchical_section_title: CBH Group / Transport
caption_attribution_description: English: CBH locomotive at Albany Port 2016
context_page_description: The CBH Group, is a grain growers' cooperative that handles, markets and processes grain from the wheatbelt of Western Australia.
context_section_description: During the early years most grain movement was by rail over the Western Australian Government Railways network, with sidings and branch lines specifically serving wheat growing areas. Many of the branch lines and rail facilities have not been updated or maintained, with road transport increasing in many areas.
  In 2009, CBH decided to put its rail grain haulage services out to tender for the first time. It aimed that the amount of grain transported by rail rise from 50% to 70%. CBH settled on a business model that saw it invest in new locomotives and grain wagons, with day-to-day operations contracted out.
  In December 2010, CBH awarded Watco Australia a ten-year contract to operate services in the south of Western Australia. To operate the services, CBH purchased 22 CBH class locomotives from MotivePower, Boise and 574 grain wagons from Bradken, Xuzhou.
  Under the agreement, Watco is responsible for providing a comprehensive rail logistics planning service, including train planning and scheduling, tracking, maintenance, inventory control, and crew management. Watco operates and maintains the rolling stock, with ownership remaining with CBH.
  The services link various CBH grain collection points in the wheatbelt with CBH terminal and port facilities in Albany, Geraldton, Esperance and Kwinana. CBH operate on the Arc Infrastructure managed open access network.
  Although the contract officially commenced on 1 May 2012, Watco operated its first service on 30 March 2012. Because of a delay in the delivery of the rolling stock, QR National continued to operate some 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge services until October 2012, while to operate standard gauge services, locomotives were hired from Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia and SCT Logistics. A further three locomotives will be delivered in 2015 as compensation for late delivery of the original order.
  In October 2013, CBH referred an ongoing dispute with the network owner Brookfield Rail over track access prices and the state of the network to the Economic Regulation Authority.
caption: CBH locomotive at Port of Albany 2016
exif: {"Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone 4", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "7.1.2", "Image DateTime": "2016:02:28 08:59:24", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "192", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1136", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "7468", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/269", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:02:28 08:59:24", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:02:28 08:59:24", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "22710/2813", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4281/1441", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "6939/964", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Spot", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "77/20", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[1245, 1101, 484, 484]", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "983", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "983", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1936", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[77/20, 77/20, 14/5, 14/5]", "EXIF LensMake": "Apple", "EXIF LensModel": "iPhone 4 back camera 3.85mm f/2.8"}