Rail, quality and legacy: Neil’s UGL journey
Neil Anderson has dedicated 45 years to UGL. Based in Newcastle, NSW, he started as a store man and progressed within the company to become a Quality Compliance Manager. Throughout his tenure, he has observed many transformations and authored a book detailing the 100 years of Goninan history.
What has been your journey at UGL?
“I started as a store man and worked through the business in clerical functions then worked in a purchasing officer role. From there I moved into quality roles, this involved different quality functions from site coordinator to now the quality compliance manager for manufacturing and maintenance in UGL’s transport business.”
What have been some of the major projects you have worked on?
“I have been involved with the well-known Tangara passenger trains and the OSCAR (Outer Suburban CAR). My role involved various areas in the quality space at site level including engineering. I have also been involved in the heavy engineering operations which provided products to many other industries. I have been responsible for building quality management systems for a number of sites and projects.”
Tangara trains are a class of electric multiple units (EMU) operated by Sydney Trains. These were manufactured on UGL’s Broadmeadow site from 1986, with 447 carriages still in service. OSCar is a class of EMUs operated by NSW TrainLink on intercity lines. 220 of these trains were manufactured by UGL in Broadmeadow, NSW, entering service in 2006.
Have you witnessed any big changes?
Goninan started with one site in Newcastle, then expanded into other states across Australia. The business grew, diversified and developed into what we know as UGL today.
“When I first started, we had one photocopier and eventually one computer at the site; and there was one mobile phone that was onsite for our test and commissioning people, it was like a massive brick. Some of the print drawings were done by an ammonia print machine. There has been a lot of change since I started.”
You wrote a book on the Goninan history
“Yes, I did, it’s about the 100 years of Goninan history, that starts from May 1899 and the book goes up to 1999. I researched the material and the layout and formatting was done by my colleague Tony Pluta, UGL Senior Technical Coordinator.”
In 1899 Alfred Goninan started a business in Wickham, Newcastle which supported the local coal industry. For more than a century, the business grew, diversified and developed into what we know as UGL today. The Broadmeadow site has been the home of Goninan since 1918 and its subsequent entities, and we will be celebrating 125 years of history in 2024!
What do you think makes UGL a great place to work for?
“The people make the business. If you have good people, and you have good processes, the environment is good. With the diversity of products and projects that UGL has, people have great career choices to choose from. UGL has built some iconic products which are still running on the rail networks today. Some of these were built in the 80’s which shows the quality of products we deliver for the customer and often exceeds the requirements they expect.”
UGL has proudly been contributing to Australia’s rail industry for over 120 years. Across our national footprint, our manufacturing and maintenance teams deliver rolling stock solutions in support of passenger and freight customers.
