One Rail Australia

One Rail Australia

160px
GM class locomotives in GWA livery, April 2008
Industry	Railway operator
Predecessor	Australian National
Founded	1 November 1997 (as Australian Southern Railroad)
Headquarters	Keswick, South Australia
Area served	New South Wales Northern Territory Queensland South Australia
Key people	Luke Anderson (CEO)
Website	1rail.com.au

One Rail Australia is an Australian rail freight operator company. Founded by United States company Genesee & Wyoming in 1997 as Australian Southern Railroad, and later renamed Genesee & Wyoming Australia, it was renamed One Rail Australia in February 2020. Aurizon agreed terms in October 2021 to buy the business, subject to being granted regulatory approval.

History

700 class leading a Penrice Stone Train through Birkenhead in June 2005

CL class leads a GM class and two 22 class locomotives near Geelong in July 2007

On 1 November 1997, Genesee & Wyoming acquired the South Australian rail freight assets of Australian National from the Australian Government including a 50-year lease on the network from the Government of South Australia. Operations commenced in November 1997 with the operation branded Australian Southern Railroad (ASR).

In 1999, ASR commenced operating services from Adelaide to Melbourne for Patrick Corporation. On 1 December 1999, the company took over operation of the BHP Whyalla Tramway network.

In December 2000, Australian Railroad Group (ARG), a 50-50 joint venture between Genesee & Wyoming and Wesfarmers took over the Westrail freight business in Western Australia with the operation rebranded Australian Western Railroad (AWR). As part of the joint venture agreement, ownership of ASR passed to the ARG. In 2002 both ASR and AWR were brought together under the ARG brand.

In May 2001, ARG commenced operating services from Adelaide to Sydney via Broken Hill and Cootamundra. In December 2003, it commenced operating services within New South Wales when it commenced a five-year contract to haul flour, grain and starch for the Manildra Group.

On 1 June 2006, ARG sold its Western Australian operations to Queensland Rail and WestNet Rail. Simultaneously, Wesfarmers sold its 50% interest in the remainder of ARG to Genesee & Wyoming with the operation rebranded Genesee & Wyoming Australia (GWA).

In 2008, GWA signed a five-year deal with ABB Grain to haul grain trains in Victoria.

In June 2010, GWA purchased the assets of FreightLink from its receivers leading to GWA taking over operation of freight trains on the Tarcoola-Darwin railway line. After this transaction, GWA became the largest of the 11 Genesee & Wyoming operating regions around the world.

With parent company Genesee & Wyoming's purchase of Freightliner in March 2015, Freightliner's Australian operations were integrated with those of GWA. In December 2016, GWA, in conjunction with Macquarie Infrastructure & Real Assets, acquired Glencore's Hunter Valley business with GWI concurrently acquiring a 49% equity stake in GWA.

GWA already operated the Glencore rail assets with fellow Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Freightliner under a 20-year contract, annually hauling some 40 million tonnes of coal to the Port of Newcastle.

When GWA's parent company was sold to Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and GIC Private Limited in 2019, GWA was not included. Because Brookfield already has other rail assets in Australia that would likely lead to objections from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, G&W's 51% shareholding in GWA was sold separately to PGGM. It was rebranded as One Rail Australia.

In February 2020, One Rail commenced operating a contract to haul coal in Queensland with five GWN class locomotives transferred from the BHP Whyalla Tramway.

In October 2021, it was announced that Aurizon had agreed terms to purchase the business. The sale is subject to approval by the ACCC. Aurizon is expected to commit to de-merge or spin off the coal division of ORA to allay ACCC concerns.

Operations

One Rail operates trains on narrow 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) and standard 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) gauge lines throughout South Australia and the Northern Territory, and in New South Wales and Victoria. Major traffic flows include intermodal, grain, gypsum, iron ore, manganese, copper and other minerals over a 5,000-kilometre (3,100 mi) network.

When One Rail operates over track networks owned by others, including networks owned by the Australian Government and state governments, the owners of the network rather than the operators are responsible for scheduling the use of the tracks as well as for determining the amount and timing of the expenditures necessary to maintain the network in satisfactory condition. Therefore, in areas where One Rail operates over tracks owned by others, it is subject to train scheduling set by the owners as well as the risk that the network will not be adequately maintained.

In South Australia, if demand for services on a line ceases and no new demand eventuates, the rail track is classified as discontinued and put into a dormant state on care and maintenance for a period of five years. During this period One Rail are responsible for ongoing care, security and maintenance that includes maintaining the working order of all equipment, i.e. level crossings, signals, controls and switches so that a train can operate within 24 hours notice and will reinstate at its own cost if an access seeker negotiates to return a train to operation. The discontinued track is transferred back to the South Australian Government after five years if services do not return.

Lines

Multi-state

One Rail operates on interstate Australian Rail Track Corporation standard gauge lines.

A 50-year lease on the Tarcoola–Darwin line was acquired with the purchase of FreightLink in 2011. One Rail provides train control functions for the line, which is owned by the Asia Pacific Transport Consortium.

New South Wales

One Rail Australia operates coal haulage services through the Hunter Valley coal corridor along the Main Northern line.

South Australia

One Rail and its predecessors have operated the BHP Whyalla Tramway since 2000 under contract from the owners of the line (currently Liberty House Group).

Under a 50-year contract that expires in 2047, One Rail leases the following lines from the Government of South Australia:

Broad gauge

• Gawler to Penrice - Penrice Stone Train ceased 24 June 2014
• Gawler to Kapunda - non-operational
• Roseworthy to Burra - non-operational: seasonal grain trains ceased January 1999, final train movement 12 March 2004
• Hamley Bridge to Balaklava - non-operational

Narrow gauge

• Port Lincoln to Wudinna – seasonal grain trains ceased 31 May 2019, now limited use (e.g. transiting locomotives for servicing in Port Lincoln, ballast trains)
• Wudinna to Penong Junction at Ceduna – seasonal grain trains ceased 2005, now limited use (e.g. transiting locomotives for servicing in Port Lincoln, ballast trains)
• Cummins to Kimba – seasonal grain trains ceased 31 May 2019
• Kimba to Buckleboo – non-operational
• Yeelanna to Kapinnie – non-operational: final train movement October 2002
• Kevin to Thevenard – daily gypsum trains

Standard gauge

• Monarto South to Apamurra - non-operational
• Tailem Bend to Loxton - seasonal grain trains ceased July 2015
• Tailem Bend to Pinnaroo - seasonal grain trains ceased July 2015

Locomotive fleet

As of October 2019, One Rail Australia's locomotive fleet was as follows.

Class	Image	No. in use	No. stored	Gauge	Max. speed (km/h)	Year built	Notes
500	115px		1	Standard	80	1964	ex Australian National, ex South Australian Railways
700	115px		5	Broad, standard	115	1971	ex Australian National, ex South Australian Railways
830	115px		8	Broad, standard, narrow	115	1960–1966	ex Australian National, ex South Australian Railways
900	115px	4	4	Standard, narrow	115	1960– 1966	rebuilt from 830 and 48 class locomotives
1200	115px		2	Narrow		1960– 1967	ex Australian Railroad Group, ex Westrail, ex Western Australian Government Railways A class
1300	115px	4		Narrow		1956– 1961	ex BHP Whyalla DE class
1600	115px		3	Narrow		1971	ex Australian National, ex Commonwealth Railways NJ class
1900	115px	1		Narrow		1972	ex Australian Railroad Group, ex Westrail, ex Western Australian Government Railways D class
2200		5		Standard	115	1969– 1970	ex FreightCorp, ex State Rail Authority, ex Public Transport Commission 422 class
ALF	115px	7		Standard	115	1976– 1977	ex Australian National, ex Commonwealth Railways
CK		4		Narrow	100	1967– 1968	ex V/Line, ex Victorian Railways T class
CLF		1	1	Standard	115	1970– 1972	ex Australian National, ex Commonwealth Railways
CLP		3	1	Standard	115	1970– 1972	ex Australian National, ex Commonwealth Railways
FJ	115px	2		Standard	115	1966	ex FreightLink ex Western Australian Government Railways J class
FQ	115px	4		Standard	115	2003	ex FreightLink
G		2		Standard		1988	ex Freightliner, ex SCT Logistics, ex Pacific National, ex Freight Australia ex V/Line
GM		1	8	Standard	115	1965– 1967	ex Australian National, ex Commonwealth Railways
GWA	115px	10		Standard	115	2011– 2012
GWN		5		Narrow	100	2012	Transferred from BHP Whyalla Tramway to Central Queensland 2019
GWU	115px	15		Standard	115	2012-2021
XRN		30		Standard	115	2010-12	Owned by Glencore, built for Xstrata
GWB	115px	3		Standard	115	2019
2250		5		Narrow	115	1971	Repatriated from South Africa, ex Aurizon, ex Queensland Railways 2250 class

External links

• Official website