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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by M636C Well, we do have open access in Australia, although how "open" it really is is a real question. First, some history is in order. Australia is a Federation of States, like the USA. Federation came well after railways, and rail infrastructure (and rolling stock and operation) was state owned. Even when we got the gauges to match at the state borders, the locomotives and crews changed. In the 1990s privatisation began and operation of freight went to private operators. Initially the state operations were privatised and then we had a spate of take overs so that we ended up with one major operator, Pacific National (PN), and one slightly smaller, ARG. Except in Queensland where the gauge was different and so were the politics. Queensland Rail (QR) is still state owned and operated. PN have moved into Queensland after years of failed attempts to get the access that was supposedly open. The state gets millions of dollars from export coal traffic, and have so far stopped PN getting coal traffic contracts (and introducing price competition). Mean time QR have started their own competition with PN on the standard gauge, and have obtained some coal contracts with "QR National" in the other main export coal area, the NSW Hunter Valley. This is the big game now, and we are all watching. Through a loophole in a contract with a shipper, QR National ended up with some of PN's locomotives. This is a real record, because PN's locomotive disposals are worthy of Machiavelli, and nobody gets anything from PN. National standard gauge infrastructure is being run by the Australian Rail Track Corporation, funded by the Federal government. This isn't a shock given that some government or other always owned it. Rail and the ARTC still don't get the sort of pork barrel funding roads have had for years, however. There are, and have been small operators competing under "Open Access", but PN, as the successor to the Federal and State operations, is by a long way the strongest operator. Peter [/quote] Peter, How is the transportation infrastructure funded in Australia? Do roads and rails have the same funding mechanisms such as fuel taxes, user fees, etc.? Does the ARTC assign slots to the various operators, or does it basically revolve around PN's operations? Is the new Darwin line an open access line?
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