Rail Corporation New South Wales (RailCorp) was an

agency Agency may refer to: Organizations * Institution, governmental or others ** Advertising agency or marketing agency, a service business dedicated to creating, planning and handling advertising for its clients ** Employment agency, a business that ...

of the State of New South Wales, Australia established under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988'' in 2004. It was a division under the control of

Transport for NSW Transport for NSW, sometimes abbreviated to TfNSW, and pronounced as Transport for New South Wales, is an agency of the New South Wales Government established on 1 November 2011, and is the leading transport and roads agency in New South Wales, ...

since the latter's establishment in 2011. RailCorp was converted into a

state-owned corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...

and renamed

Transport Asset Holding Entity Transport Asset Holding Entity of New South Wales (TAHE) is a state-owned corporation of the New South Wales Government in New South Wales, Australia, established under the ''Transport Administration Act 1988''. It was converted and renamed fro ...

(TAHE) on 1 July 2020.Transport for NSW Annual Report 2016-17 page 142,237
Transport for NSW, Retrieved 18 January 2018Transport Administration Amendment (Transport Entities) Act 2017 No 12
Australasian Legal Information Institute, Retrieved 16 January 2018 Until its conversion to TAHE, RailCorp held rail property assets, rolling stock and rail infrastructure in the Sydney metropolitan area and limited country locations in the state and it makes these assets available to

Sydney Trains Sydney Trains is the operator of the suburban passenger rail network serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The network is a hybrid urban- suburban rail system with a central underground core that covers over of track and 170 ...

and

NSW TrainLink NSW TrainLink is a train and coach operator in Australia, providing services throughout New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, along with limited interstate services into Victoria, Queensland and South Australia. Its primary interc ...

for their operations. It also managed the NSW Government's contract with the

Airport Link Company The Airport Link Company (AirportLink Pty Ltd) is the operator of the Green Square railway station, Green Square, Mascot railway station, Mascot, Domestic Airport railway station, Sydney, Domestic Airport and International Airport railway station ...

. At the time of conversion to TAHE, the acting chief executive of RailCorp was Sydney Trains chief executive Howard Collins. Additionally, until 2013, RailCorp also formerly operated passenger train services in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

under the brand

CityRail CityRail was a passenger railway brand operated by the State Rail Authority from 1989 to 2003 and by RailCorp from 2003 to 2013 with services in and around Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, the three largest cities in New South Wales, Australia ...

, and maintained rail infrastructure within the

New South Wales Metropolitan Rail Area The New South Wales Metropolitan Rail Area (MRA) is the government-operated railway network centred on Sydney and bounded by Newcastle Interchange in the north, in the west, and Glenlee and in the south. The MRA contains the entirety of the st ...

. From July 2013, operation and maintenance functions were transferred to the newly created

and NSW Trains agencies, which were also subsidiaries of RailCorp, leaving RailCorp as the legal owner of a portfolio of $28.6 billion of railway property, mostly within the metropolitan area. In July 2017, Sydney Trains and NSW Trains ceased to be subsidiaries of RailCorp and became standalone independent agencies.

History

In January 2004, after much criticism and public perceptions of blame shifting between units of the

State Rail Authority The State Rail Authority, a former statutory authority of the Government of New South Wales, operated and maintained railways in the Australian state of New South Wales from July 1980 until December 2003. History The ''Transport Authorities Ac ...

for operational failings, RailCorp was formed taking over the passenger train operations of

and

CountryLink CountryLink was a passenger rail and road service brand that operated in regional areas New South Wales, Canberra, Brisbane and Melbourne. Originally created as a business unit (or sub-brand) of the State Rail Authority of New South Wales, it l ...

, and responsibility for maintaining the greater metropolitan network from the

Rail Infrastructure Corporation Rail Infrastructure Corporation, later known as Country Rail Infrastructure Authority after July 2010, was a Government of New South Wales statutory corporation with responsibility for the management of the railway network in rural New South Wales, ...

. Initially governed by a Board of Directors as a State-owned corporation, changes to the resulted in RailCorp ceasing to be a state-owned corporation and becoming a NSW

statutory authority A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or state, sometimes by being Primary and secondary legislation, empowered or deleg ...

on 1 January 2009. Further changes to the resulted in abolition of the Board effective 1 July 2010 and the repositioning of RailCorp as an agency of

Transport NSW Transport for NSW, sometimes abbreviated to TfNSW, and pronounced as Transport for New South Wales, is an agency of the New South Wales Government established on 1 November 2011, and is the leading transport and roads agency in New South Wales, ...

. This was followed by further structural changes under the Transport Legislation Amendment Act 2011, which saw Transport NSW replaced by

, which was established as a controlled entity of the Department of Transport, with Rail Corporation New South Wales a controlled entity of Transport for NSW. RailCorp reports to the

Minister for Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...

Restructure

In May 2012 the

announced a restructure of RailCorp from July 2013 that would: * establish

to operate services in the Sydney Metropolitan area bounded by Berowra,

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Emu Plains Emu Plains is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 58 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney re ...

, Macarthur and

Waterfall A waterfall is a point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several wa ...

* establish

to operate all other passenger services including those of

* transfer capital projects and planning functions to

* establish Transport Cleaning Services, a specialist division responsible for train cleaning * establish a customer service division * reduce RailCorp's function to asset owner * offer voluntary redundancies to 750 management and support staff The restructure resulted in

and NSW Trains, which were subsidiaries of RailCorp, operating railway passenger services in New South Wales under the Sydney Trains and NSW TrainLink brands. While being subsidiaries of Railcorp, Sydney Trains and NSW Trains were not controlled entities of RailCorp, but were instead controlled by

. Due to the restructure,

and

were also abolished. In July 2017, Sydney Trains and NSW Trains ceased to be subsidiaries of RailCorp and became standalone and independent agencies of

Transition into the Transport Asset Holding Entity

RailCorp was converted into a

and renamed

(TAHE) on 1 July 2020. The new entity would continue to own assets on behalf of Transport for NSW. The Residual Transport Corporation (RTC), which was formed in July 2017, would then own assets not suitable for TAHE ownership.

Corruption investigation

In 2007 and 2008, RailCorp was investigated by the Independent Commission Against Corruption. In a series of seven reports released during 2008, the ICAC reported that more than $21 million in improper contracts and deals through the procurement of services in just three years. In June 2009, RailCorp terminated the contract of Vicki Coleman, its chief information officer, and it was claimed that she was at the centre of claims of dishonesty and corruption. The ICAC recommended charges against 33 people; yet by April 2012, only eight people had faced the courts. Those that received custodial sentences included Allan Michael Blackstock (4½ years) and Renea Hughes (3½ years). Youssef (Joe) Madrajat was directed to undertake

community service Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...

. Further charges are expected to be laid on others, and several are still waiting for the outcome of criminal proceedings.

Emergency response

RailCorp maintains a statewide Emergency Response Unit. The function of this unit is to attend incidents, such as

derailments In rail transport, a derailment occurs when a rail vehicle such as a train comes off its rails. Although many derailments are minor, all result in temporary disruption of the proper operation of the railway system and they are a potentially ...

. Formerly known as the State Rail Fire Service, the unit is based in Sydney and respond to emergency incidents involving the rail network including automatic fire alarms within the underground and nearby stations. The unit also undertakes cross-training with

Fire and Rescue NSW Fire and Rescue New South Wales (previously known as New South Wales Fire Brigades), an government agency, agency of the Government of New South Wales, Australia, is responsible for firefighting, rescue and hazardous material, HazMat services i ...

. The unit is currently equipped with a number of vehicles including Mercedes and International pumpers and a specialist rapid rail response unit which is able to travel via the road and rail network for rescue operations. The unit's motto is ''Semper Paratus'', translated from

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

to mean Always Ready.

References

External links

RailCorp
{{Authority control Government agencies of New South Wales Railway companies of New South Wales Railway infrastructure companies of Australia Australian companies established in 2004 Railway companies established in 2004 2020 disestablishments in Australia Railway companies disestablished in 2020