Drivers worked 16+ hours on outback freight runs, but the agreement never said stop
Australia's biggest private rail freight operator has overturned penalty findings after the Federal Court ruled its enterprise agreement never actually required the company to pull train drivers off shifts within set time limits - even though the agreement was packed with provisions about maximum shift lengths.
The Full Federal Court handed down its decision on October 9, 2026, setting aside eight contravention declarations that the South Australian Employment Court had made against Pacific National earlier in 2025.
At the centre of the dispute were train crews running long-haul freight through some of the most remote stretches of rail in the country - intermodal services between Port Augusta, Kalgoorlie and Perth. The Australian Rail, Tram and Bus Industry Union had alleged Pacific National breached section 50 of the Fair Work Act on 11 separate occasions in 2023 by failing to sign off drivers within the maximum shift lengths in the Pacific National Intermodal Train Crew Enterprise Agreement 2021.
The numbers were stark. One two-person crew worked four and a half hours past a 12-hour rostered limit. A three-person crew on the Cook to Port Augusta corridor ran two hours beyond a 15-hour rostered shift. Other overruns ranged from 10 minutes to just over two hours.
The lower tribunal found Pacific National had contravened the agreement on eight of those 11 occasions. It also declared several...
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