In 2010, the

Queensland Government The Queensland Government is the democratic administrative authority of the Australian state of Queensland. The Government of Queensland, a parliamentary constitutional monarchy was formed in 1859 as prescribed in its Constitution, as amended f ...

split the government owned rail operator

Queensland Rail Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Owned by the Queensland Government, it operates local and long-distance passenger services, as well as owning and maintaining approximately 6,600 kilometres of track and relate ...

into two companies: the government owned passenger operator Queensland Rail and the freight operator QR National (now

Aurizon Aurizon ( ) is a freight rail transport company in Australia, formerly named QR National. it was the world’s largest rail transporter of coal from mine to port. Formerly a Queensland Government-owned company, it was privatised and floated o ...

), the latter to be floated in late 2010.

Public float

On 2 June 2009, the Queensland Government announced the 'Renewing Queensland Plan', with

's commercial activities to be separated from the Government's core passenger service responsibilities, and formed into a new company called QR National Limited. The new structure was announced by the State Government on 2 December 2009, and took place from 1 July 2010. QR's coal, freight and infrastructure businesses was sold as an integrated enterprise, known as QR National Limited with headquarters in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

. The new enterprise controls QR's coal business in Queensland and

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 ...

, regional freight business in Queensland, bulk mineral and grain haulage in

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

and Queensland, and containerised freight between Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

. It also included a long-term 99-year lease over the railway lines that form the Queensland coal haulage network: the Newlands line to the port of

Abbot Point Abbot Point Port is home to the North Queensland Export Terminal (NQXT), the most northerly deepwater coal port of Australia, situated approximately north-west of the township of Bowen (Queensland). Established in 1984, it consists of a rail i ...

, the Moura line to 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 Centr ...

, the Goonyella system based around the port of

Hay Point Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated ...

, and the Blackwater system based around the

, as well as network control responsibilities. The QR rollingstock workshops at

Redbank Redbank may refer to: Places ;In Australia *Redbank, Queensland, a suburb in Ipswich *Redbank, Victoria *Redbanks, South Australia ;In the United States *Redbank Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania *Redbank Township, Clarion County, Pennsylv ...

, Rockhampton and

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...

were also included. The business model in the Queensland coalfields was be similar to

Class I railroad In the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, st ...

s in North America, which are

vertically integrated In microeconomics, management and international political economy, vertical integration is a term that describes the arrangement in which the supply chain of a company is integrated and owned by that company. Usually each member of the supply ...

with ownership of the trains used to carry freight and the infrastructure they run upon. The

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

of the freight and coal businesses occurred on 22 November 2010, with the sale raising $4.6 billion. QR employees who were part of the new entity had their jobs guaranteed for two years, and receive $1,000 worth of shares and the option to purchase an additional $4,000 of shares at a discounted price. The Queensland Government initially retained a 34% shareholding in the publicly floated company,Indicative Top 20 Shareholder List
QR National 22 November 2010 with Queensland residents given preference in purchasing the remaining shares.

Miners' bid

On 9 March 2010, a consortium of 13 mining companies with coal operations in Queensland, known as the Queensland Coal Industry Rail Group and headed by former NSW premier Nick Greiner, announced their intention to buy QR's coal rail network. The consortium made a formal $4.85 billion offer on 26 May for the tracks used exclusively or predominantly to haul export coal to port, and excluding QR's trains and freight businesses. If the bid is accepted the rail assets would be managed by the

Australian Rail Track Corporation The Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) is an Australian Government-owned statutory corporation. It operates one of the largest rail networks in the nation spanning 8,500km across five states, 39 worksites and more than 50 First Nations. ...

, a federal government owned body who manages the Australian interstate freight network. Premier Anna Bligh and Treasurer Andrew Fraser said it would consider the offer but believed a public float was the best option. The companies providing the equity included Anglo American,

BHP Billiton BHP Group Limited (formerly known as BHP Billiton) is an Australian multinational mining, metals, natural gas petroleum public company that is headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The Broken Hill Proprietary Company was founded ...

, Ensham Resources, Felix Resources, Jellinbah Group, Macarthur Coal,

Peabody Energy Peabody Energy is a coal mining and energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Its primary business consists of the mining, sale, and distribution of coal, which is purchased for use in electricity generation and steelmaking. Peabody ...

Rio Tinto Coal Australia Rio Tinto Coal Australia (RTCA) was an Australian coal mining organisation, that was part of the worldwide Rio Tinto Group. In 2018, Rio Tinto completed the sale of its remaining assets RTCA Operations RTCA Queensland Operations Blair ...

, Vale Australia,

Wesfarmers Wesfarmers Limited is an Australian conglomerate, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. It has interests predominantly in Australia and New Zealand, operating in retail, chemical, fertiliser, industrial and safety products. With revenue o ...

and

Xstrata Xstrata plc was an Anglo-Swiss multinational mining company headquartered in Zug, Switzerland and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It was a major producer of coal (and the world's largest exporter of thermal coal), copper, ...

; with Aquila Resources and

New Hope Coal New Hope Coal is an Australian thermal coal-mining company. New Hope's operations include New Acland Mine, Jeebropilly Mine, and Queensland Bulk Handling. New Hope Coal is 61.11% owned by Washington H. Soul Pattinson and is headquartered in Br ...

are supporting parties and may provide equity at a later stage. QR chief executive Lance Hockridge rejected the bid in June 2010, saying it is not in the best interests of the future expansion of the state's coal network. The consortium increased their bid for QR National to $5.2 billion on 10 August 2010 and the Queensland Government confirmed they are in negotiations with the consortium over this bid. During the negotiations the consortium received access to the QR National's

financials Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

. The negotiations ended when the consortium did not meet the deadline of 10 September 2010 for making a binding offer for QR National.

Union action

Court case

On 11 June 2010, the Federal Court of Australia found that QR breached workplace agreements during the privatisation process, with workers not given the opportunity to discuss if they would be moved into the new private business, how the privatisation would occur, or if they wanted privatisation at all. On 22 June, the court fined QR a total of $660,000: QR Limited was fined $396,000, and its subsidiaries QR Passenger and QR Network were fined $231,00 and $33,000 respectively. The court action had been launched in February 2010 by the

Australian Rail Tram & Bus Industry Union The Australian Rail Tram and Bus Industry Union (RTBU) is an Australian trade union representing rail, tram and bus workers. The RTBU is affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) and the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Intern ...

and four other unions with members working for QR.

Separation and share offer

On 1 July 2010, the Queensland government separated QR National from QR Limited. Both Queensland Rail and QR National received a re-branding, with both getting a new logo and Queensland Rail getting new livery for the trains, new signage at stations, new staff uniforms and a new website. At the same time, the Queensland government announced new services, an overhaul of the timetables and a new focus on providing passenger rail transport and travel services for Queensland Rail. The new passenger train business became a government-owned corporation known as Queensland Rail, with administrative headquarters in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

. The government retained ownership of the passenger service business and assets, including commuter, long-distance and tourist passenger rail services, the metropolitan rail network, the regional freight network (excluding the tracks used for coal services), and the

Workshops Rail Museum The Workshops Rail Museum is a railway museum in Ipswich, Queensland, located within the former North Ipswich Railway Workshops. The museum Opening in September 2002 as part of the Queensland Museum Network, The Workshops Rail Museum tells the ...

. Pre-registration for the QR National share offer opened on 19 September 2010, with Queensland residents and smaller market players invited to pre-register. The Queensland government retained a 34% shareholding. The shares were listed on Australian Securities Exchange on 22 November 2010. By December 2013, the Queensland Government had reduced its shareholding to under 5%.Notice of ceasing to be a substantial holder

Clayton Utz Clayton Utz is an independent, top-tier Australian law firm headquartered in Sydney, Australia. Established in 1833, it is generally considered a leading law firm, and has been known as one of the " Big Six" Australian law firms. The firm is rec ...

5 December 2013

References

{{Reflist

External links

Queensland Government: Public float of QR NationalQueensland Government: Queensland assets saleQR National
an
Queensland Rail
official websites Privatisation in Australia Rail transport in Queensland 2010 in Australia 2010 initial public offerings