AN issues paper outlining changes perceived as necessary to improve effectiveness of WA’s freight rail network is being prepared by the State government.
Treasurer Mike Nahan has confirmed the issues paper will seek public comment on the much-maligned Railways (Access) Code 2000 – the set of rules under which network operator Brookfield Rail and rail users such as CBH Group and mining companies negotiate train paths, timetables and cost.
Officers across four government departments – Finance, Treasury, Transport and State Development – are involved in preparing it.
The paper is expected to canvass opinion on 18 changes recommended by the Economic Regulation Authority (ERA) following statutory reviews of the code in 2010 and 2015.
The ERA, which administers the code, is required to conduct a public review every five years, but the government is not bound to react to its recommendations.
A second statutory review, in 2010, resulted in eight mainly procedural recommendations delivered to Treasury in December 2011 but not acted upon.
According to the ERA at the time, its recommendations aimed to improve availability of information for access seekers, prevent delays in access negotiations, improve efficient and effective administration, clarify definitions and develop access proposals for new railways.
The code applies to the standard-gauge interstate line west of Kalgoorlie and all other freight lines in the southern half of the State which were leased out until 2049.
In 2008 a new 620 kilometre iron-ore railway from Port Hedland servicing Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group Ltd Christmas Creek, Cloudbreak and Solomon mines and operated by a wholly-owned subsidiary, The Pilbara Infrastructure (TPI), also came under the code, hence review recommendations related to new railways.
A third statutory review last year resulted in 10 recommendations to Treasury in December which were made public on the ERA’s website in February, but so far also not acted upon by government.
In the period between reviews, starting October 2013 CBH group attempted to become the first organisation to use the State’s regime and code provisions to negotiate a 10-year agreement for grain trains.
But following a Supreme Court challenge by CBH, access negotiations became a first test of the code’s dispute resolution processes, including a 90-day period which failed to end CBH’s and Brookfield’s disagreement on pricing and ultimately triggered the current, on-going arbitration process.
