Asciano has renegotiated its haulage contract with Rio Tinto’s Coal & Allied.
The new long term, take or pay contract will see Asicano subsidiary Pacific National haul around 30 million tonnes of coal annually through the Hunter Valley.
Set to start 1 July, the contract will run for a minimum of ten years and cover all of Coal & Allied’s mines.
Asciano CEO John Mullen said it has looked at a flexible rail haulage approach.
He went on to say that “instrumental in our ability to achieve the outcomes required for both Coal & Allied and our other customers is continued investment in key infrastructure in the Hunter Valley.
Mullen outlined their recently announced train support facility at Greta as critical to its operating coal haulage services.
It began construction of the $110 million train support rail yard in June.
"With coal exports through the Port of Newcastle forecast to double over the next five years, this investment is critical to delivering efficient, effective and sustainable coal haulage services," Pacific National coal director David Irwin said.