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Aurizon Holdings Limited ( ) is a freight rail transport company in Australia, formerly named QR National Limited and branded QR National. In 2015, it was the world's largest rail transporter of coal from mine to port. Formerly a
Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the state government of Queensland, Australia, a Parliament, parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Government is formed by the party or coalition that has gained a majority in the Queensland Legislative Assembly, ...
-owned company, it was privatised and floated on the
Australian Securities Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd (ASX) is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary Exchange (organized market), securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or c ...
(ASX) in November 2010. The company was originally established in 200405 when the coal, bulk, and container transport divisions from
Queensland Rail Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Queensland Rail is owned by the Queensland Government, and operates both Commuter rail, suburban and Regional rail, interurban rail services in South East Queensland, as well ...
were brought under one banner as QR National. In 2019, the company operated in five
Australian states The states and territories are the national subdivisions and second level of government of Australia. The states are partially sovereign, administrative divisions that are self-governing polities, having ceded some sovereign rights to the feder ...
; on an average day it moved more than of coal, iron ore, other minerals, agricultural products and general freight – equating to more than 250 million tonnes annually. Aurizon also managed the
Central Queensland Central Queensland is an imprecisely-defined geographical division of Queensland ( a state in Australia) that centres on the eastern coast, around the Tropic of Capricorn. Its major regional centre is Rockhampton. The region extends from the Cap ...
coal network that links mines to coal ports at Bowen,
Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...
and
Mackay Mackay may refer to: *Clan Mackay, the Scottish clan from which the surname "MacKay" derives Mackay may also refer to: Places Australia * Mackay Region, a local government area ** Mackay, Queensland, a city in the above region *** Mackay Airport ...
; it was the largest haulier of iron ore outside the
Pilbara The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...
. In 2021, a major corporate change was foreshadowed when Aurizon sought to acquire rail operator
One Rail Australia One Rail Australia was an Australian Rail freight transport, rail freight operator company. Founded by a United States short line railroad holding company, Genesee & Wyoming, Genesee & Wyoming Inc, in 1997 as Australian Southern Railroad, and s ...
. The corporate regulator, the
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is the chief competition regulator of the Government of Australia, located within the Department of the Treasury. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Tra ...
, approved the sale subject to One Rail Australia's coal-haulage business in New South Wales and Queensland being
divested In finance and economics, divestment or divestiture is the reduction of some kind of asset for financial, ethical, or political objectives or sale of an existing business by a firm. A divestment is the opposite of an investment. Divestiture is a ...
. Aurizon's purchase of One Rail Australia's assets not subject to divestiture occurred in July 2022. Divestiture of the remaining assets occurred on sale to
Magnetic Rail Group Magnetic Rail Group Pty Ltd is a rail freight company that hauls bulk coal in New South Wales and Queensland. It was incorporated on 1 November 2022 as an Private company limited by shares, Australian proprietary company, limited by share ...
on 17 February 2023. The company in 2023 was Australia's largest rail-based transport business, transporting more than 250 million tonnes (246 million long tons) of commodities per year.


QR National

The QR National brand was established in the 2004–05 financial year when
Queensland Rail Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Queensland Rail is owned by the Queensland Government, and operates both Commuter rail, suburban and Regional rail, interurban rail services in South East Queensland, as well ...
's coal, bulk and containerised business units were brought under one banner. The company's major traffic at the time was coal, both for export and domestic power generation, in Queensland. In 2005, QR National started to operate export coal services in the
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its ...
. By 2008, its operations extended across the entire mainland other than the
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
when their first
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
intermodal container service started. In August 2008, QR National took over the operation of Melbourne–
Horsham Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...
container service for Wimmera Container Line, after
Pacific National Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses. History In February 2002, National Rail Corporation, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock, jointly owned by the Government of Australia, Federal, Governm ...
withdrew its service.


Public float

In 2009, the Queensland Government announced that
Queensland Rail Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Queensland Rail is owned by the Queensland Government, and operates both Commuter rail, suburban and Regional rail, interurban rail services in South East Queensland, as well ...
's commercial activities were to be separated from the government's core passenger service responsibilities, formed into a new company named QR National Limited, and
privatised Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation wh ...
. The new company was incorporated the following year, taking: * the coal business in Queensland and New South Wales * regional freight business in Queensland * bulk mineral and grain haulage in Queensland and Western Australia * containerised freight between Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. QR National obtained a 99-year lease over the Queensland coal network, comprising: * the Blackwater system around the
Port of Gladstone The Port of Gladstone is Queensland's largest multi-commodity port and the fifth largest multi-commodity port in Australia. It is the world's fourth largest coal exporting terminal. It is within the locality of Callemondah in Gladstone in Ce ...
* the Goonyella system around the Port of Hay Point and Dalrymple Bay * the Moura line to the Port of Gladstone, which transports coal from Moura Mine and Boundary Hill Mine * the Newlands line to Port of Abbot Point, which transports coal from
Newlands coal mine The Newlands Coal Mine is a coal mine located in the north of the Bowen Basin at Newlands about 28 km northwest of Glenden in North Queensland, Australia. The mine has coal reserves amounting to 413 million tonnes of low ash steamin ...
, Sonoma Mine, Collinsville coal mine and
Carmichael coal mine The Carmichael coal mine is a coal mine in Queensland, Australia, owned by the Adani Group's Australian subsidiary Bravus Mining & Resources. It was approved by the government in 2014 and has been operational since December 2021. The mine was i ...
* the West Moreton coal line, which transports coal to the
Port of Brisbane Port of Brisbane is the main shipping port and a coastal suburb of the City of Brisbane, on the east coast of Queensland, Australia. In the , Port of Brisbane had "no people or a very low population". Geography Port of Brisbane is located in ...
from New Acland coal mine (loaded at Jondaryan and the Cameby Downs coal mine (loaded at Columboola, utilising in part the QR Western Railway Line. On acquiring the lease, QR National became responsible for the maintenance of the coal lines. The
rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...
workshops at Redbank,
Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...
and
Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...
were included in the privatisation. The float took place in November 2010. In August 2021, Aurizon signed a six year agreement with
CBH Group The CBH Group (commonly known as CBH, an acronym for Co-operative Bulk Handling) is a grain growers' cooperative that handles, markets and processes grain from the wheatbelt of Western Australia. History CBH was formed on 5 April 1933, at a ...
(with two options to extend for a further two years) to provide rail haulage services for their grain trains. Although scheduled to transition in May 2022, all parties agreed to bring the handover date forward to September 2021. Aurizon had already been informally providing rail haulage services in the
Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri language, Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu language, Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West (Western Australia), Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. As of the , Geraldt ...
region since mid-2021. In February 2022, Aurizon commenced a five-year contract to haul mineral sands from
Broken Hill Broken Hill is a city in the Far West (New South Wales), far west region of outback New South Wales, Australia. An inland mining city, it is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Hi ...
to Kwinana for
Tronox Tronox Limited is an American worldwide chemical company involved in the titanium products industry with approximately 6,500 employees. Following its acquisition of the mineral sands business formerly belonging to South Africa's Exxaro Resources, ...
, to be extended 320 km east to
Ivanhoe ''Ivanhoe: A Romance'' ( ) by Walter Scott is a historical novel published in three volumes, in December 1819, as one of the Waverley novels. It marked a shift away from Scott's prior practice of setting stories in Scotland and in the more ...
, where a new loading facility has been constructed.


Re-branding as Aurizon

Following a vote by its shareholders, in 2012 QR National was rebranded as Aurizon. The CEO at the time, Lance Hockridge, said the new name derived from the words ''Australia'' and ''horizon''. Marketers opined that the name was "a nearly perfect example of all that can go wrong with a rebranding" and that it was "a classic case of people making a weird hybrid name to try and make it unique and interesting so that people will remember it. This is not true: people don't remember made-up words."


Company sales and purchases

In 2005, QR National incorporated a subsidiary,
Interail Interail was an Australian rail freight operator owned by QR National. In June 2011 it ceased trading as a separate brand, and became part of QR National (now known as Aurizon). Northern Rivers Railroad Northern Rivers Railroad was establish ...
, which had been acquired in 2002 and operated in New South Wales. In the same year, QR National acquired logistics company
CRT Group CRT Group is an Intermodal freight transport, intermodal transport company in Australia. It was founded in 1954 as Colin Rees Transport, a taxi truck company in Sydney. In 1981 it became known as the CRT Group, and by the time of its acquisition ...
, for which it already provided line haulage. In 2006, QR National acquired
Australian Railroad Group Australian Railroad Group (ARG) was an Australian rail freight operator. It began operations in Western Australia on 17 December 2000 following its purchase of the Westrail freight business. It was purchased by QR National in June 2006. The mai ...
(ARG), which operated in
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
,
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
and
Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
. ARG remained a separate subsidiary operation until it was rebranded as QR National in 2011. In 2007, the company acquired the Golden Bros Group. In 2019, after a Federal Court judgement, Aurizon's intermodal and trucking business was acquired by
Linfox Linfox is an Australian transport, logistics and supply chain business founded in 1956 by Lindsay Fox. History Linfox was established in 1956 by Lindsay Fox as Lindsay Fox Cartage with one truck in Melbourne. In 1958, a contract with Schweppe ...
for A$7.3 million.


Purchase of One Rail Australia non-coal assets

In October 2021, Aurizon agreed terms to purchase
One Rail Australia One Rail Australia was an Australian Rail freight transport, rail freight operator company. Founded by a United States short line railroad holding company, Genesee & Wyoming, Genesee & Wyoming Inc, in 1997 as Australian Southern Railroad, and s ...
. The transaction was approved in July 2022 by the
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is the chief competition regulator of the Government of Australia, located within the Department of the Treasury. It was established in 1995 with the amalgamation of the Australian Tra ...
(ACCC) after the commission accepted Aurizon's court-enforceable undertaking to dispose of the seller's Hunter Valley coal haulage and Queensland coal haulage business to maintain competition levels. The ACCC Chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said: "We are also satisfied that the divestment of One Rail's east coast business would preserve it as a potential competitor to Aurizon for the supply of non-coal bulk rail haulage in the future, and Aurizon would continue to be constrained by a number of existing bulk rail haulage competitors.” The sale was completed on 29 July 2022, and Aurizon took over One Rail Australia's South Australian, Northern Territory and interstate operations the following day under the brand, "Aurizon Bulk Central". In December 2022, Aurizon agreed to an offer by Magnetic Rail Group Pty Ltd to purchase the divested assets. The buyer was to pay about $A425 million ($US284.3 million) – the equity value of the east coast business – and assume existing debt facilities, which originally totalled $A500 million. Proceeds$, A125 million of which was to be deferred for 12 months, would be used initially to reduce Aurizon's debt and would form part of Aurizon's available capital. After the ACCC gave regulatory approval, the sale was completed on 17 February 2023.


Price regulation

As Aurizon's infrastructure was a monopoly, it was subject in 2018 to regulation by government organisations including the
Queensland Competition Authority The Queensland Competition Authority (QCA) is an independent statutory authority that promotes competition as the basis for enhancing efficiency and growth in the Queensland economy. It was established by the Government of Queensland in 1997. ...
. Aurizon disputed the price that it should be allowed to charge its clients – for example when the Authority used a lower
weighted average cost of capital The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) is the rate that a company is expected to pay on average to all its security holders to finance its assets. The WACC is commonly referred to as the firm's cost of capital. Importantly, it is dictated by ...
that did not account for the risk that clean energy poses to fossil fuel.


Events after purchase of ORA non-coal assets

On 20 February 2023, Aurizon announced it had re-entered the interstate intermodal market on being awarded a  billion 11-year contract with
Team Global Express The Toll Group is an Australian freight company that operates a logistics and global freight forwarding network spanning 150 countries, with over 20,000 customers. Toll has more than 16,000 workers across 500 sites. Toll Holdings Pty Limited ( ...
(formerly Toll Global Express) – the largest non-coal contract in the history of the company. The company stated that services would begin in April 2023 and that by April 2024, five weekly services would run east–west (Melbourne–Sydney–Adelaide–Perth); two would run north–south (Brisbane–Sydney–Melbourne). The first revenue service of this contract departed Melbourne for Perth on 8 April. In March 2023, Aurizon and
Viterra Viterra Limited is a Canadian grain handling business, that began as the nation's largest grain handler, with its historic formative roots in prairie grain-handling cooperatives, among them the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Viterra Inc grew into a g ...
proposed that the
Australian federal government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national Executive (government), executive government of Australia, a federalism, federal Parliamentary system, parliamentary con ...
supply A$220 million in funding to repair and upgrade the Eyre Peninsula Railway lines. The proposal included re-opening the Port Lincoln–Wudinna and Cummins-Kimba lines and upgrading the outloading facilities at Viterra's Lock, Wudinna, Cummins, Kimba and Rudall sites. An annual target of at least 1.3 million tonnes of grain haulage was estimated. Aurizon and Viterra planned to have the network reopened within 12 months if funding were approved.


East coast container service

In February 2023, Aurizon inaugurated two Melbourne–Perth containerised freight services and in September 2023 a weekly return container service on the Melbourne-Sydney- Brisbane corridor in collaboration with its customer,
Team Global Express The Toll Group is an Australian freight company that operates a logistics and global freight forwarding network spanning 150 countries, with over 20,000 customers. Toll has more than 16,000 workers across 500 sites. Toll Holdings Pty Limited ( ...
.


Accidents

On 23 February 2022, as part of the
2022 eastern Australia floods The 2022 eastern Australia floods were one of the nation's worst recorded flood disasters with a series of floods that occurred from late February to early May in South East Queensland, the Wide Bay–Burnett and parts of coastal New South Wal ...
, freight train Y279 derailed at approximately 3:30am due to flash flooding that had resulted in a track washout at the 149.020km point just south of Traveston.


Locomotive fleet


Former fleet

Details of Aurizon's former fleet are as follows:


References

{{S&P/ASX 50 Interstate rail in Australia Privatisation in Australia Freight railway companies of Australia Railway companies established in 2004 Railway infrastructure companies of Australia Transport in Queensland Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange Australian companies established in 2004 Companies based in Brisbane