One Rail Australia

700 class leading a Penrice Stone Train through Birkenhead in June 2005

CL class leads a GM class and two 22 class locomotives near Geelong in July 2007

On 1 November 1997, Genesee & Wyoming acquired the South Australian rail freight assets of Australian National from the Australian Government including a 50-year lease on the network from the Government of South Australia.[1][2][3][4] Operations commenced in November 1997 with the operation branded Australian Southern Railroad (ASR).[5][6]

In 1999, ASR commenced operating services from Adelaide to Melbourne for Patrick Corporation.[7] On 1 December 1999, the company took over operation of the BHP Whyalla Tramway network.[8]

In December 2000, Australian Railroad Group (ARG), a 50-50 joint venture between Genesee & Wyoming and Wesfarmers took over the Westrail freight business in Western Australia with the operation rebranded Australian Western Railroad (AWR).[9][10] As part of the joint venture agreement, ownership of ASR passed to the ARG.[11] In 2002 both ASR and AWR were brought together under the ARG brand.[12][13]

In May 2001, ARG commenced operating services from Adelaide to Sydney via Broken Hill and Cootamundra.[14][15] In December 2003, it commenced operating services within New South Wales when it commenced a five-year contract to haul flour, grain and starch for the Manildra Group.[16]

On 1 June 2006, ARG sold its Western Australian operations to Queensland Rail and WestNet Rail.[17] Simultaneously, Wesfarmers sold its 50% interest in the remainder of ARG to Genesee & Wyoming with the operation rebranded Genesee & Wyoming Australia (GWA).[18]

In 2008 GWA signed a five-year deal with ABB Grain to haul grain trains in Victoria.[19]

In June 2010 GWA purchased the assets of FreightLink from its receivers leading to GWA taking over operation of freight trains on the Tarcoola-Darwin railway line.[20][21][22] After this transaction, GWA became the largest of the 11 Genesee & Wyoming operating regions around the world.[5]

With parent company Genesee & Wyoming's purchase of Freightliner in March 2015, Freightliner's Australian operations were integrated with those of GWA.[23] In December 2016, GWA, in conjunction with Macquarie Infrastructure & Real Assets, acquired Glencore's Hunter Valley business with GWI concurrently acquiring a 49% equity stake in GWA.[24][25]

GWA already operated the Glencore rail assets with fellow Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Freightliner under a 20-year contract, annually hauling some 40 million tonnes of coal to the Port of Newcastle.[26]

When GWA's parent company was sold to Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and GIC Private Limited in 2019, GWA was not included.[27][28] Because Brookfield already has other rail assets in Australia that would likely lead to objections from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, G&W's 51% shareholding in GWA was sold separately to PGGM.[29][30] It was rebranded as One Rail Australia.[31][32]

In February 2020, One Rail commenced operating a contract to haul coal in Queensland with five GWN class locomotives transferred from the BHP Whyalla Tramway.[33][34]

One Rail operates trains on narrow 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) and standard 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) gauge lines throughout South Australia and the Northern Territory, and in New South Wales and Victoria.[35][26] Major traffic flows include intermodal, grain, gypsum, iron ore, manganese, copper and other minerals over a 5,000-kilometre (3,100 mi) network.[36]

When One Rail operates over track networks owned by others, including networks owned by the Australian Government and state governments, the owners of the network rather than the operators are responsible for scheduling the use of the tracks as well as for determining the amount and timing of the expenditures necessary to maintain the network in satisfactory condition. Therefore, in areas where One Rail operates over tracks owned by others, it is subject to train scheduling set by the owners as well as the risk that the network will not be adequately maintained.

In South Australia, if demand for services on a line ceases and no new demand eventuates, the rail track is classified as discontinued and put into a dormant state on care and maintenance for a period of five years. During this period One Rail are responsible for ongoing care, security and maintenance that includes maintaining the working order of all equipment, i.e. level crossings, signals, controls and switches so that a train can operate within 24 hours notice and will reinstate at its own cost if an access seeker negotiates to return a train to operation. The discontinued track is transferred back to the South Australian Government after five years if services do not return.[37]

As at October 2019, One Rail Australia's locomotive fleet comprised.[46]

Class	Image	No. in use	No. stored	Gauge	Max. speed (km/h)	Year built	Notes
500			1	Standard	80	1964	ex Australian National, ex South Australian Railways
700			5	Broad, standard	115	1971	ex Australian National, ex South Australian Railways
830			8	Broad, standard, narrow	115	1960–1966	ex Australian National, ex South Australian Railways
900		4	4	Standard, narrow	115	1960– 1966	rebuilt from 830 and 48 class locomotives
1200			2	Narrow		1960– 1967	ex Australian Railroad Group, ex Westrail, ex Western Australian Government Railways A class
1300		4		Narrow		1956– 1961	ex BHP Whyalla DE class
1600			3	Narrow		1971	ex Australian National, ex Commonwealth Railways NJ class
1900		1		Narrow		1972	ex Australian Railroad Group, ex Westrail, ex Western Australian Government Railways D class
2200		5		Standard	115	1969– 1970	ex FreightCorp, ex State Rail Authority, ex Public Transport Commission 422 class
ALF		7		Standard	115	1976– 1977	ex Australian National, ex Commonwealth Railways
CK		4		Narrow	100	1967– 1968	ex V/Line, ex Victorian Railways T class
CLF		1	1	Standard	115	1970– 1972	ex Australian National, ex Commonwealth Railways
CLP		3	1	Standard	115	1970– 1972	ex Australian National, ex Commonwealth Railways
FJ		2		Standard	115	1966	ex FreightLink ex Western Australian Government Railways J class
FQ		4		Standard	115	2003	ex FreightLink
G		2		Standard		1988	ex Freightliner, ex SCT Logistics, ex Pacific National, ex Freight Australia ex V/Line
GM		1	8	Standard	115	1965– 1967	ex Australian National, ex Commonwealth Railways
GWA & GWB		13		Standard	115	2011– 2019
GWN		5		Narrow	100	2012	Transferred from BHP Whyalla Tramway to Central Queensland 2019
XRN & GWU		41		Standard	115	2010-present	Owned by Glencore, built for Xstrata
2250		5		Narrow	115	1971	Repatriated from South Africa, ex Aurizon, ex Queensland Railways 2250 class

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