Transport and logistics operator Asciano has announced plans to slash $250 million in spending with jobs cuts expected, blaming tough economic conditions.
The company has cut capital expenditure this year from $700-800 million to $575-625 million.
"If soft economic conditions continue into FY14 management has further flexibility to re-phase capital expenditure to more appropriately align with top line growth," the company said in a presentation to the Macquarie Australia Conference in Sydney.
SMH reports that affected projects could include new trains and freight terminals in the Pacific National Rail coal network.
The company said that some redundancies would now be pushed forward into this quarter instead of waiting until the end of 2013.
The company's latest quarterly update showed its Pacific National Rail volumes fell 3.4 per cent, which it blamed on soft volumes.
It showed that container volumes at its ports also dropped by 4.1%.
However despite falling volumes, the company said it still expected revenue fore the second half of the year to be up.
Earlier this year, the company posted a net profit of $199 million for the six months to December, a 7.45 per cent increase on the same period last year.
The report trumped analyst expectations of $171 million profit, with the company declaring an interim dividend of 5.25%, fully franked.
The result was driven by volume growth in Pacific National Coal following new contacts in Queensland, and growth from contracts in the Hunter Valley, the company said.