El Zorro (railway)

El Zorro was an Australian railway operator hauling freight and infrastructure trains in Victoria and New South Wales.

[13][14][15] Problems El Zorro faced in running the service included a lack of broad gauge locomotives and container wagons, the removal of crossing loops on the line by infrastructure manager V/Line, which resulted in late running and delays, and the inability to carry high cube containers though the Geelong tunnel due to a lack of low platform wagons.

In August 2008, AWB awarded El Zorro a new five-year contract to operate four trains moving grain throughout Victoria and New South Wales.

[22] In October 2008, the company operated a trial service to the Gippsland Intermodal Freight Terminal outside Morwell, in what was the first train to use the facility in almost three years.

[25] El Zorro director Ray Evans said cash flow problems had been caused by agricultural products distributor Cargill refusing to pay his company for work carried out during the previous four weeks.

Evans said that although El Zorro owed Cargill $2 million as a long-term debt, there was a repayment plan in place, which was not being fulfilled.

[26] At the same time, the NSW branch of the Rail Tram and Bus Union said it was talking to legal representatives over El Zorro's failure to pay full superannuation entitlements to its members since February 2013.

[30][31] The Australian Securities & Investments Commission listed El Zorro Transport Pty Ltd as being under external administration following the submission of documents on 14 June.

Y145 in El Zorro livery in June 2008
T413 Preservation Group's W241 and W244 and the Railmotor Group's Y168 on infrastructure trains in Melbourne in April 2006
Seymour Railway Heritage Centre 's T357 and El Zorro's S302 near Warncoort in June 2008
CFCLA's S311 leads a mix of hired and El Zorro locomotives on a broad gauge grain service near Meredith in January 2008
Seymour Railway Heritage Centre 's GM36 leads a standard gauge grain service through Corio in January 2008