Trac East Vehicle Engineering, on Gateway Boulevarde, transforms vehicles such as four-wheel drives, cranes, excavators and dump trucks so that they can travel on train tracks.

The company recently converted 30 Landcruisers into what’s called hi-rail vehicles.

“We convert them from a normal car to a vehicle with train wheels,” Trac East owner Mark Barnett said.

Converting the 30 Landcruisers – a combination of single- and dual-cab models – was part of a multi-million dollar contract for John Holland Rail to service the CountryLink rail network.

It was the culmination of about 10 months’ work for Mr Barnett and his staff of seven.

While there’s plenty of grunt work required in working with such large vehicles and components, it’s also very precise work, requiring hi-tech equipment.

The Morisset business has all of the heavy tools and apparatus you’d expect to find in an engineering workshop, but it is also equipped with laser guiding instruments, and touch-screen computers.

Trac East not only builds a range of hi-rail vehicles, it also maintains them.

“We have between 250 and 300 hi-rail vehicles that we look after,” Mr Barnett said.

His is one of five companies in the state qualified for hi-rail recertification work.

“We’re like the pink slip inspectors for rail vehicles,” he said.

“And it’s not just a visual inspection of the vehicles that’s required. There’s a technical inspection, too, so we laser align them.”

There’s a constant flow of hi-rail maintenance work for Trac East, as maintenance is required every six months in the rail industry.

The 30 Landcruisers recently converted for John Holland Rail will mean another 30 vehicles added to the Trac East servicing schedule, Mr Barnett said.

While rail vehicles are Trac East’s core business, the company is also known for its specialised suspension work, bullbars, and other custom modifications for a range of road vehicles – including a funeral van.

“That’s a weird niche market, I suppose,” Mr Barnett smiled.

The Trac East team took a Hi-Ace van and built a barrier in the back section, added decks, and viewing ports on the side.

“We even built in little garbage bins in the side where you can put your disposable gloves,” Mr Barnett said.

Then there was the trade display vehicle the company made with fridges and slide-out shelves.

“We also do work for the local fire brigades at Dora Creek and Martinsville,” Mr Barnett said.

“They fight fires, and I can’t do that. So I’m more than happy to help them to do that.”

There is an array of photographs on the walls of Mr Barnett’s office which depict the wide range of vehicles that the company has worked on.

One vehicle stands out. And it is supposed to.

It’s an Arctic truck, built by the Trac East team as a promotional vehicle to showcase its expertise. 

It was a recreation of a vehicle featured on the Top Gun motoring program in 2006, and built to negotiate the challenging terrains in Iceland.

“They build these Arctic trucks for polar expeditions,” Mr Barnett said.

“We did one as a promotional thing. It was just something we’d drive around to advertise the business. It is eye-catching.”

Mr Barnett recalls it took about six months of research to build the truck. Specialised equipment had to be imported from Iceland.

“Then it took about six to eight months of fabrication and modification to get it all to work,” he said.

The job involved transforming a Toyota Hilux with a range of suspension and body modifications, 35-inch tyres, and “lots of engineering”.

The vehicle hasn’t been tested in the Arctic, but Mr Barnett said he’d welcome the opportunity.

While its credentials with large scale jobs are well established, Trac East is also happy to tackle the smallest jobs. It’s common for customers to come in to the workshop to have a single length of pipe bent, or to request a simple welding fix.

“We had a local guy come in recently wanting to get a crack in his vehicle’s fuel tank welded up. He ended up asking us to build a stand for that fuel tank,” Mr Barnett said.

“There’s really no job too small for us,” he said.

At the other end of the scale, Mr Barnett said the largest road-rail job the company had tackled involved creating wheels to run a 45-tonne flash butt welder on train rails.

“And there are a few big contracts coming up in the next two years which we’re looking to do,” he said.