Ministerial Statement: Qld rail access regime passes National Competition ...

[ozbob]

Treasurer and Minister for Employment and Economic Development
The Honourable Andrew Fraser
14/09/2010

Qld rail access regime passes National Competition Council test

The National Competition Council (NCC) has today backed the competitiveness of Queensland's coal rail network, in its draft certification recommendation to the Commonwealth Treasurer, said Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser.

"The draft decision paves the way for the network's regulation to stay under the jurisdiction of the Queensland Competition Authority, as opposed to the national regulator," said Mr Fraser.

"Today's announcement by the NCC is an endorsement of the measures the Queensland Government has put in place to deliver an open and competitive industry.

"We said we had an open and competitive access regime and the NCC's recommendation backs this up.

"While the decision is in draft form, it is a strong indication that the network will maintain under the watch of Queensland's own independent regulator.

"This decision will deliver certainty to all access seekers and other parties, not to mention potential investors in the QR National float.

"It also complies with our commitments under the COAG Competition and Infrastructure Reform Agreement," he added.

The Queensland Parliament has already passed legislation to further boost the competitiveness of the access regime.

Mr Fraser said the decision by the NCC to recommend certification is a setback to attempts to have the network 'declared' under the National Access Regime - which would mean having the network's regulation overseen by the ACCC.

"There are others who have attempted to cruel the QR National float by running inaccurate scare campaigns in the media about the effectiveness of the Queensland access regime," Mr Fraser said.

"These are the same people who have complained about the supposed lack of competition in the Queensland coal network, despite telling their own investors that they are already forecast to achieve 30% of the Queensland market-share by 2020.

"The proposed recommendation by the NCC puts a lie to those claims."


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[johnnigh]

Coalies on all lines Darra to Corinda. QR National doesn't own the track down south here but they sure use bits of it, and will be using it even more intensively in the future. The rail access regime long in place for the old QR, and now revisited for the QR National network in the north, may leave CityTrain with problems because Translink is not the authority doling out access. In fact, it may be QR, and QR may be obliged under the access regime to grant access at the expense of CityTrain schedules. We should find out about this, an issue that could be raised at a consultation.

Now that QR National is focussed on profit, will we see them being more demanding of the suburban network? My guess is, look out for conflict...

[mufreight]

Well this increased loading on the Ipswich line could well be the catlyst for accelerated further track amplification from Darra to Ipswich and the new alignment through the Little Liverpool Range that would also allow the extension of electrification west as far as Helidon as well as the southern freight bypass line from Ebeneezer to Kagaru which would then take most of the freight traffic off the Ipswich - Corinda section, BUT this being the Smart State who knows, it is for certain that neither Queensland Transport's planners nor our elected Politicians would have the faintest germ of an idea on the subject.

[curator49]

QR National owns the track Gladstone to Rockhampton and Rockhampton to Emerald (or thereabouts). There will be conflict there too with QueenslandRail passenger trains using those sections. Pacific National's intermodal services on the North Coast Line also may have difficulty.
It will depend who ultimately controls the track access.