IRJ at AusRail Plus 2011, Brisbane: Leighton Contractors and Swietelsky have formed a joint venture company called LS Rail to offer highly-mechanised track maintenance and renewal in Australia, initially on the standard-gauge network.

Hitherto, Leighton has specialised in building new infrastructure on existing alignments such as track doubling and station construction, while Swietelsky claims to own the world's largest private fleet of high-performance track machines.

From next month LS Rail will have the use of a high-performance Plasser & Theurer 09-3X-DTS dynamic tamper and next year it will receive a 08-275-3S switch and crossing tamper an SSP 303 ballast regulator, and what is claimed to be Australia's first ballast profile and guidance system. The joint venture also has access to Swietelsky's fleet of track machines, locomotives and wagons.