The infrastructure industry offers variety of jobs from roads and rail links to hospitals
WATER. Roads. Tunnels. Railway lines. Busways. Hospitals. A sugar storage. A convention centre.
It might not seem like there is an obvious link but construction offers the kind of variety few jobs can match.
Fraser Ramsay has worked on projects in each of these areas in a career spanning 20 years.
“One of the attractions of civil construction is that you can get that variety from water projects to road projects to rail, plus I’ve got a mixed career between building construction and civil construction,” he said.
“Engineering gives you the flexibility to do that.”
Mr Ramsay, 42, is currently working with Macmahon Holdings towards lifting
“It’s very exciting because things are happening so quickly and it’s a very important project to the State and the State’s economy,” he said.
As the manager of the Coal Stream Alliance Jilalan, Mr Ramsay is overseeing the Jilalan Rail Yard upgrade which is an integral part of the Goonyella system for processing coal trains operating to the Hay Point and
The $250 million civil works at the Jilalan Rail Yard – located near Sarina, southwest of Mackay – include major earthworks associated with 40km of new tracks, realignment of existing tracks, construction of rail crossings, and new facilities for wagon maintenance.
The project has created about 350 construction jobs.
The Coal Stream Alliance was also awarded additional work on the Goonyella to Abbot Point expansion project, including the Pring Yard upgrade in April.
Mr Ramsay knows about big projects. He spent four years working on a $120 million section of
Mr Ramsay said he gravitated towards engineering because wanted “to do something tangible”.
“It’s fairly dynamic and you can see what you have done at the end of every day,” he said.
“So the tangibility is a big attraction when you first start out. As you go through your career, you gain a much better appreciation of business because you get more involved in that side of things.
“To give yourself the best opportunity to advance your career, it pays to be flexible with where you work.”
Mr Ramsay said he enjoyed reflecting on landmark projects such as Citylink and the
“It is a rewarding industry. It’s good to be ... contributing to infrastructure used by the public. When I started my career it wasn’t all that glamorous but it’s got a much better profile now and remuneration has improved immensely.”