Rail access compliance
The Transport Asset Holding Entity (TAHE) (formerly known as ‘Railcorp’) and Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) are required to submit information to IPART each year to demonstrate they have complied with the NSW Rail Access Undertaking.
IPART’s compliance guideline provides information about this process. The requirements are different for the Hunter Valley Coal Network (HVCN) and non-Hunter Valley sectors.
Hunter Valley
TAHE’s Hunter Valley Coal Network between Newstan Junction and Woodville Junction is the only part of the Hunter Valley Coal Network that is currently subject to the NSW Rail Access Undertaking. Each year we assess whether the revenue that TAHE has received has not exceeded the economic costs of providing the service.
Non Hunter Valley
ARTC and TAHE have rail networks that are outside of the Hunter Valley that are subject to the Undertaking.
TAHE must demonstrate compliance for the:
- Metropolitan Passenger Rail Network (MPN)
- Metropolitan Rail Network (MRN)
- Country Rail Network (CRN)
- Northern Sydney Rail Corridor (NSRC)
ARTC must demonstrate compliance for:
- Turrawan to Boggobilla
- Goobang Junction to Merrygoen
- Merrygoen to The Gap
- Merrygoen to Ulan
- Sydney Metropolitan Freight Network
- Inland Rail North West Link
For these Non-Hunter Valley Coal Networks, we have 2 approaches for assessing compliance with the undertaking. We have set a threshold for access revenue at 80% of the full economic cost of providing access to decide between our approaches.
If access revenue is substantially below the 80% threshold, we assess the price-related requirements in detail once every 5 years. Each year the rail owner provides a statement to IPART confirming that:
- access revenue is less than 80% of the full economic cost of providing access
- there has been no significant changes to revenue or costs, so that access revenues remain below the 80% threshold.
If access revenue is approaching the 80% threshold, we require supporting cost and revenue information to be provided every year.
Our compliance assessments are in the Table below.
| YEAR | TAHE/RAILCORP COMPLIANCE WITH NSW RAIL ACCESS UNDERTAKING |
|---|---|
| 2022-23 | Review of TAHE's networks |
| 2021-22 | Review of TAHE’s networks |
| 2018-19 to 2020-21 |
Compliance Proposal, Fact Sheet |
| 2017/18 | Compliance Proposal - RailCorp - non-Hunter Valley Networks |
| 2015/16 | Final Decision - TfNSW - Country Regional Network |
| 2013/14 | Final Decision - RailCorp - Sydney Metropolitan Rail Network |
| 2012/13 | Final Decision - RailCorp - Sydney Metropolitan Rail Network |
| 2011/12 | Final Decision - TfNSW - Country Regional Network |