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News
The Changing Composition of Our Workforce
It’s no secret the heavy haul railway industry has traditionally employed a predominantly male workforce. As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, at Aurizon, we are proud of the significant progress we have made to promote gender diversity and to develop the capability of our women.
Over the past seven years our female participation rate has increased from just over 11% to more than 20% today, with women filling a diverse range of roles across the Company. We are now seeing more female engineers, train drivers, locomotive and wagon maintainers and women in leadership roles that were traditionally held by men.
In May, Aurizon’s Coal business will start hauling high-quality metallurgical coal for Baralaba Coal in Queensland’s Bowen Basin. This new contract win was led by our female Business Development Manager, and now a team is busy preparing for the first coal haulage services on the Moura line of the Central Queensland Coal Network.
In this team of 13, there are nine women, which reflects the changing composition of our workforce and our industry more broadly. The roles vary from providing commercial advice, ensuring our governance and compliance obligations are met, through to the operations and network management. Our female Operations Manager based just outside of Gladstone is ultimately responsible for more than 200 train crew and freight operators who deliver the day-to-day coal haulage services for our customers.
Our preparations for the first coal haulage services in May have been a team effort all around – a team that is working together from a range of geographic locations, with each person contributing their own ideas and experience to ensure the contract is successfully implemented.
The team’s achievements are a great example of how we can maximise the potential of our workforce by valuing the diversity of thought that each person brings to the table and encouraging those different perspectives each and every day.
Pictured (L-R): Aurizon Coal’s Business Development Manager Rebecca Landon, Access Adviser Rebecca Holthuyzen and Commercial Adviser Lindy Lee are three of the nine women working in the team preparing for Baralaba Coal’s first railings in May.