Australian Rail Track Corporation

Australian Rail Track Corporation is a federal government owned corporation established in 1997 that owns, leases, maintains and controls the majority of main line standard gauge railway lines on the mainland of Australia, known as the Defined Interstate Rail Network (DIRN).

History

The Interstate railway infrastructure, owned by Australian National's "Track Access", was transferred to the Federal Government-owned Australian Rail Track Corporation in 1998 [http://artc.com.au/about/history.htm accessed 16 March 2008] . This consists of the track from Kalgoorlie to Broken Hill and Serviceton, Victoria. The Tarcoola to Alice Springs line was transferred to the AdRail Consortium (now part of FreightLink) as part of a deal to build the railway between Alice Springs and Darwin in 2000.

The ARTC also manages, under lease, the interstate standard gauge rail network in New South Wales and Victoria, and has rights to sell access between Kalgoorlie and Kwinana to interstate rail operators under a wholesale access agreement with the WA track owner and operator, WestNet Rail. It also "has a working relationship with Queensland Rail about the use of the 127 kilometres of standard gauge line between the Queensland border and Fishermans Island". [ [http://www.ministers.dotars.gov.au/ja/releases/2003/december/artc_summary.htm Media Release: John Anderson, Minister for Transport and Regional Services, December 2003] ARTC "has a working relationship with Queensland Rail about the use of the 127 kilometres of standard gauge line between the Queensland border and Fisherman Island. ARTC intends to start discussions with Queensland about leasing this track once the NSW arrangements are bedded down"]

Upgrade funding in NSW

The Australian and NSW Governments agreed in 2003 that the Australian Rail Track Corporation would lease the NSW interstate and Hunter Valley networks for 60 years. As part of this agreement the ARTC agreed to the investment of [cite web
url=http://www.ministers.dotars.gov.au/ja/releases/2003/december/artc_summary.htm
title=Media release, December 2003
publisher=John Anderson, Minister for Transport and Regional Services, www.ministers.dotars.gov.au
accessdate=2006-04-27] :
*The Australian Rail Track Corporation is investing $270 million to improve the 452 km of track and signalling that make up the Hunter Valley rail network. This investment is part of ARTC's lease arrangements for the New South Wales mainline interstate and Hunter Valley rail networks. The investment will increase the capacity of the network from 85 million tonnes of coal per year to 100 million tonnes per year.
*$192 million through the Australian Rail Track Corporation for a new access route for freight trains through the south-western Sydney metropolitan area from Macarthur to Chullora, the Southern Sydney Freight Line project. In the early 1990s the Australian Government funded a separate freight line from Macarthur and Glenfield. This project will complete the separation of freight and urban passenger traffic between the Southern line (connecting to Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide) at Macarthur to Port Botany, various freight terminals and the Northern Line at North Strathfield to connect with Newcastle and Brisbane. At present passenger trains have priority during the peak commuter periods. The resulting long delays are the biggest impediment to rail freight activity between Melbourne and Brisbane.
*$175 million to upgrade the Main South Line from Macarthur to Albury. The investment will improve signalling, extend the length of crossing loops and replace the Murrumbidgee Bridge at Wagga Wagga. It will reduce the travel time for freight trains between Sydney and Melbourne by 3 hours.
*$123 million for the North Coast Line from Maitland to the Queensland border. Importantly, the investment will replace the signalling system between Casino and Greenbank with modern equipment. The current system was installed in the 1920s. The investment will reduce the travel time for freight trains between Brisbane and Sydney by 3.5 hours.
*$54.1 million to upgrade the line between Cootamundra and Werris Creek, including the replacement of timber bridges and the consolidation of the way trains are controlled.
*$21.8 million to upgrade the line between Parkes and Broken Hill, including funds to raise the height clearance of the line. As a result, it will be possible for train operators to make unrestricted use of double stacked container trains.

The funding sources for the investment included an Australian Government equity injection into ARTC of $143 million and a funding contribution of almost $62 million by the New South Wales Government.

Plans for Victoria

ARTC are currently laying concrete sleepers along the standard gauge track from Melbourne to Sydney and on to Brisbane. They are also adding or extending crossing loops along stretches of single track. [cite web
url=http://www.railwaygazette.com/news_view/article/2007/12/7994/north_south_upgrade_will_boost_rails_market_share/archive/Sydney.html?tx_ttnews%5BbackPid%5D=110&cHash=6a11674b80
title=Railway Gazette: North - South upgrade will boost rail's market share
publisher=www.railwaygazette.com
accessdate=2008-05-03] However, the ARTC lease of the Victorian standard gauge lines is almost up for renegotiation. As part of this process, many argue that the Broad Gauge line from Seymour to Albury is both rundown and underutilised and should be leased to the ARTC for total conversion to Standard Gauge. This would benefit trains using the busy freight line from Melbourne to Sydney by having long sections of dual track.cite web
url=http://bordermail.yourguide.com.au/news/local/general/vline-to-sabotage-rail-plan-standardisation-at-risk-says-fischer/1186140.html
title=V/Line ‘to sabotage rail plan’ - Standardisation at risk, says Fischer - Local - General - The Border Mail
publisher=bordermail.yourguide.com.au
accessdate=2008-05-03]

As a consequence of such a proposal:

* the broad gauge line from Benalla to Oaklands would need to be standardised.
* current broad gauge freight and passenger trains would need to be replaced or converted to standard gauge.
* V/Line passenger trains on the Albury-Wodonga line would go via Tottenham and not via North Melbourne and Essendon.
* timetables for passenger services would need to fit in with current usage of the two standard gauge platforms available at Southern Cross Station.
* platforms for passenger trains would need to be erected alongside the current Standard Gauge track at some of the existing Broad Gauge stations: Wodonga, Chiltern, Springhurst, Violet Town, Euroa, Avenel, Seymour and Broadmeadows.

Such a change may also encourage further sections of Victoria's Broad Gauge Freight track to be standardised.

In May 2008 the conversion of 200km of broad gauge track to standard gauge between Seymour and Albury was announced, in addition to construction of a five kilometre Wodonga Rail Bypass. [cite web
url=http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=571907
title=$500m rail link upgrade for Victoria
publisher=news.ninemsn.com.au
accessdate=2008-05-30] Costing $501.3 million, the Victorian Government is contributing $171.3 million, the Australian Government is investing $45 million and the Australian Rail Track Corporation will contribute $285 million and will assume responsibility for the ongoing operation of the new north-east standard gauge rail line under a 45-year lease agreement with Victoria. [cite web
url=http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/newsroom/federal-state-co-operation-delivers-major-rail-project.html
title=Premier of Victoria, Australia - FEDERAL-STATE CO-OPERATION DELIVERS MAJOR RAIL PROJECT
publisher=www.premier.vic.gov.au
accessdate=2008-05-30]

Responsibilities

ARTC does not operate any passenger or freight trains running on its tracks, but rather provides and maintains the infrastructure to enable any qualified train operator to run trains on designated train paths. The tracks controlled by ARTC are located in four states, which were previously controlled by 5 separate state railways, in a somewhat uncoordinated fashion that has given the edge to road transport. By combining the infrastructure under one corporation it is expected that a more coordinated one stop shop will be created.

ARTC does not control any of the narrow gauge track in Queensland or South Australia, nor broad gauge track in Victoria.

ARTC owned rail corridors

* Adelaide to Wolseley
* Adelaide - Port Augusta - Kalgoorlie
* Port Augusta to Whyalla
* Crystal Brook to Broken Hill
* Tarcoola to Alice Springs and Darwin is owned/leased by AustralAsia Rail Corporation

ARTC leased corridors

* Melbourne to Albury (North East line)
* Melbourne to Serviceton (Western line)
* Macarthur to Albury
* Unanderra to Moss Vale
* Lithgow to Broken Hill
* Broadmeadow to Border Loop (with proposed extension to Brisbane)
* Cootamundra to Parkes
* Maitland to Werris Creek

ARTC also manages the non-DIRN rural rail lines in New South Wales on behalf of the NSW state government.

See also

* Rail transport in Australia
* Southern Sydney Freight Line

References

External links

* [http://www.artc.com.au/ ARTC website]