Ministerial Statement: New Board for new era of Queensland rail

[ozbob]

Minister for Transport
The Honourable Rachel Nolan
04/06/2010

New Board for new era of Queensland rail

Transport Minister Rachel Nolan today announced a new management board for a new era of Queensland Rail that will be entirely focussed on passenger service and maintaining its vast regional rail network.

"More than 6500 staff will be focused on one outcome - what's best for the travelling public," Ms Nolan said.

"The new Queensland Rail will provide passenger rail transport and travel services in the South East corner and from Brisbane to Cairns and west to Mount Isa, Longreach and Charleville.

"Under our asset sales program passenger services are being retained by the State.

"The new board has a regionally-based chair and more than half of the board are women. Their task is to ensure Queensland has world-class passenger operations.

New Queensland Rail Board: Stephen Gregg (Chair), Dawson Petie, Leo Keliher, Maureen Hayes, Julie-Ann Schafer, Denise McMillan-Hall and Merren McArthur.

"Queensland Rail has been safely carrying passengers since the 1860s and that will continue.

"Today's announcement formalises a process that means passenger services no longer compete with freight trains and coal tracks for Government funding.

"It is one of the reasons the State has retained Queensland Rail (passenger).

"Today's announcement is timely given its proximity to Queensland Day (6 June) and knowing Tuesday's Budget includes a raft of new initiatives for public transport infrastructure.

"Queensland Rail is a Queensland great," she said.

Ms Nolan welcomed the new Cairns-based chair and acknowledged his depth of experience in tourism and management.

"Stephen's an award-winning executive with a background in marketing, transport and events. (see profile).

"His background is ideal to take this new passenger-focused icon to a new level," she said.

Ms Nolan said that the new Queensland Rail will manage:

    * all passenger train services including Citytrain, Tilt trains, Sunlander, Westlander, the Spirit of the Outback, Inlander and tourist trains like those that run the Kuranda Scenic Railway;
    * the South East Queensland metropolitan rail network including the Caboolture/Gympie, Beenleigh/Robina, Ferny Grove, Shorncliffe, Doomben, Cleveland and Rosewood/Ipswich lines;
    * metropolitan rail network control based in Mayne, Brisbane;
    * Queensland's regional rail network, except the dedicated coal network;
    * the Queensland Rail Heritage Museum.

Fast facts - about passenger train services

    * Queensland Rail's South East Queensland passenger network covers approximately 300 kilometres and includes 144 stations.
    * More than 66 million passenger journeys are taken on the Queensland Rail network each year.
    * An average of 170,000 journeys are taken on the Queensland Rail network daily.

Board background

·Stephen Gregg has extensive experience in the Queensland tourism industry, including his current role as CEO for the North Queensland Airports (Cairns and Mackay) and previous roles as CEO of Dreamworld and WhiteWater World and Tourism Queensland. In addition, Mr Gregg is Chairman of the Queensland Tourism Industry Council and a director of the Queensland Events Corporation. Mr Gregg's experience in customer-focussed roles and his significant regional focus will enable him to make a valuable contribution to the QR Passenger Board.

·Dawson Petie has more than 30 years' experience as a professional company director, including serving on the QR Limited Board for nearly 11 years where he was chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, prior to his appointment to the QR Passenger Board. Prior to his retirement from full-time employment, Mr Petie was a General Manager for QIC Limited.

·Dr Leo Keliher has extensive experience in the Queensland public service, with roles that include Chairman of the former Service Delivery and Performance Commission and Director-General of the Department of the Premier and Cabinet. Dr Keliher was appointed as a director of QR Limited in 2008, following his retirement, and will now bring his public service experience to his position on the QR Passenger Board.

·Maureen Hayes serviced as a Brisbane City Councillor from 1991 until her retirement in 2008. During her time as a councillor, Ms Hayes served on various transport-related committees and was involved in the management of a number of significant transport infrastructure projects, including the Inner City Bypass and the establishment of the CityCat service.

·Julie-Anne Schafer has more than 25 years' experience as a lawyer, including extensive experience in the transport (including the rail industry), business and corporate sectors. Ms Schafer is also a member of the National Transport Commission and was previously chairperson of RACQ and RACQ Insurance.

·Merren McArthur is currently General Counsel and Company Secretary for the Virgin Blue Group where she is Head of Corporate and Government Affairs and responsible for corporate governance. Ms McArthur's previous experience includes as Chief Adviser for Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Deputy State Solicitor for Western Australia and, as an Executive Partner at Allens Arthur Robinson, advisor to the Victorian Government's Transport Reform Unit.

·Denise McMillan-Hall has extensive rail industry experience, working at the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) for over ten years as their strategic business manager and general manager of operations and customer service. She was also the general manager of the Hunter Valley for the ARTC. Ms McMillan-Hall now works for AnsaldoSTS, a transport solutions company, as the Vice President for Sales and Market Development. She has a background in finance, including with the Westpac Bank and financial markets in London.

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... knowing Tuesday's Budget includes a raft of new initiatives for public transport infrastructure ...

[ozbob]

From the Cairns Post 7th June 2010 page 4

Service focus

Service focus

RAIL passenger services will be the fresh focus of the new Queensland Rail board, its new chairman Stephen Gregg says. Mr Gregg, who heads Cairns Airport, was appointed chairman of the new board by Transport Minister Rachel Nolan. Mr Gregg said passenger services had been treated as the "poor cousin" to the highly successful coal freight division. He said the board would be able to focus on improving passenger services and safety. Mr Gregg said the passenger rail services were an important part of the tourism industry.

[longboi]

The board does look promising - A far cry from QR's current executive who are mostly made up of mineral industry heavies.

[O_128]

Its interesting that a lot of the exec have no experience with QR or another company i would have thought that the government would have gone for some execs from other train companies

[ozbob]

From the Queensland Times 29th July 2010 page 12

New rail group meets