The ARTC now owns or leases most of the DIRN. Sections that the ARTC does not own or lease are located between Kalgoorlie and Kwinana in WA and between Brisbane and the Queensland border. The ARTC has the right to sell access to the former under an agreement with WestNet Rail. QR Network and the ARTC are trying to reach an agreement that would allow the ARTC to sell access between Brisbane and the Queensland-NSW border. [45] Australian Rail Track Corporation, North South Corridor Strategic Investment Outline, September 2007, p. 17, www.artc.com.au/library/North-South%20Corridor%20Strategic%20Investment%20Outline.pdf November 5, 2008. [69] Australian Rail Track Corporation, Audit of the Inland Railway Proposal Parkes to Brisbane. Report, page 14, www.artc.com.au/library/0025ReportPBT.PDF, accessed November 5, 2008. As has already been said, the objective of the reform was to exploit DIRN as a single network in terms of investment, access and pricing. On 14 November 1997, the transport ministers signed an intergovernmental agreement that provided for the creation of an access and infrastructure development management company on the DIRN.
[17] In February 1998, the government founded the Commonwealth-owned Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC). The ARTC began operations on July 1, 1998. Australian Rail Track Corporation has agreed with NSW on the leasing of DIRN to NSW, the Hunter Valley coal export line and the purpose-designed urban freight lines at the Sydney ports. The 60-year lease between ARTC and NSW for the management of the NSW-Interstate and Hunter Valley networks effectively ends 150 years of confusion over the Australian Interstate rail system. [18] Australian Rail Track Corporation, The Agreement in Summary, am www.artc.com.au/library/agreement_summary.pdf, September 2004, was held on November 5, 2008. Security reform measures began in the 1990s. In 1993, the Australian Transport Council (ATC), made up of transport ministers from all countries, approved a report entitled A National Approach to Rail Safety Regulation. The report concluded that a uniform national security regime was needed, particularly on the intergovernmental network, where inconsistencies are an obstacle to effective exploitation. Among other things, the report recommended developing an intergovernmental agreement to create uniform regulation at the national level. The 2013 Review Board recommended a scoping study to examine an appropriate access system, the impact on ARTC leasing contracts, and broader reflection from the intergovernmental agreements establishing the ARTC. [7] The jury also found that the monopoly characteristics of the ARTC could be managed appropriately, in the same way as airport monopolies or electricity distribution monopolies.
[8] It also found that “in recent years, some of the capital projects led by the ARTC have been cost-effective marginally, have not been necessary to meet future demand forecasts, or that the expected capacity constraints have not been effective.” [9] [22].