Queensland Rail (QR) is a railway operator in Queensland, Australia. Queensland Rail is owned by the Queensland Government, and operates both suburban and interurban rail services in South East Queensland, as well as long-distance passenger train services connecting Brisbane to regional Queensland. Queensland Rail also owns and maintains rolling stock, in addition to approximately of track and related infrastructure.
History
Early history
Queensland Railways was the first operator in the world to adopt a narrow gauge (in this case ) for a main line,Kerr J 'Triumph of Narrow Gauge', Boolarong Publications 1990 and this remains the system-wide gauge in Queensland.
The colony of Queensland separated from New South Wales in 1859, and the new government was keen to facilitate development and immigration. Improved transport to the fertile Darling Downs region situated west of Toowoomba was seen as a priority. As adequate river transport was already established between the capital Brisbane and the then separate settlement of Ipswich, the railway commenced from the latter locality and the initial section, built over the relatively flat, easy country opened to Bigge's Camp, at the eastern base of the Little Liverpool Range, on 31 July 1865. Called the Main Line, the only significant engineering work on that section was the bridge over the Bremer River to North Ipswich.
Tunneling excavation through the Little Liverpool Range delayed the opening of the next section to Gatton by 10 months, but the line was opened to Toowoomba in 1867, the ascent of the Main Range being the reason for the adoption of narrow gauge.
Built by the Queensland Government to the unusual (for the time) gauge of , the line largely followed the alignment surveyed by a private company, the Moreton Bay Tramway Company, which had proposed to build a horse-drawn tramway but had been unable to raise funds to do so beyond an initial start on earthworks.
The adoption of a narrow gauge was controversial at the time and was largely predicated by the government's desire for the fastest possible construction timeframe at the least cost. This resulted in the adoption of sharper curves and a lower axle load than was considered possible using the standard gauge, and an assessment at the time put the cost of a narrow gauge line from Ipswich to Toowoomba at 25% of the cost of a standard gauge line. Given that the colony only had a population of ~30,000 at the time, more expensive options would not have been financially viable.
The network evolved as a series of isolated networks. It wasn't until the completion of the North Coast line in December 1924 that all were joined.The North Coast Line The Telegraph 9 December 1924 page 8 The exception was the Normanton to Croydon line which always remained isolated. At its peak in 1932, the network totaled .
Changing transport patterns resulted in the closure of many development branch lines from 1948 onwards, but at the same time the main lines were upgraded to provide contemporary services, and from the 1970s an extensive network of new lines was developed, particularly to service export coal mines.
Electrification
Commencing in November 1979, the Brisbane suburban network was electrified.
In 1978, discussions were commenced on the possible electrification of the Blackwater and Goonyella coal networks. This was due to an expected increase in coal traffic across the networks, an ageing diesel-electric locomotive fleet and the increase in diesel fuel costs. By early 1983, a decision had been made to electrify the networks and by early 1984, contracts were already starting to be let for the new locomotives and other works for the project. The decision was made to electrify with the 25 kV AC railway electrification system as used on the Brisbane suburban network. This would allow future connection of the Brisbane network with the coal networks via the North Coast line.
The project was to be carried out in four stages:
Stage 1: Electrification of the main line from Gladstone to Rockhampton, including parts of Rockhampton marshalling yard, then west to Blackwater and the coal mines in the area. This was a total of of the track. Stage 2: Electrification of the coal lines south of Dalrymple Bay and Hay Point, then west through the Goonyella system, southwest to Blair Athol and south to Gregory – linking the Goonyella system to the Blackwater system. This was a total of of the track. Stage 3: Electrification of the main western line from Burngrove to Emerald. This would allow electric freight from Rockhampton to Emerald. Stage 4: Electrification of the line from Newlands coal mine to Collinsville and northeast to Abbott Point. This stage never went ahead. In 1986, it was decided to electrify the North Coast line between Brisbane and Gladstone instead and this became known as Stage 4.
Interstate freight expansion
In September 1999, Queensland Rail was rebranded as QR."Queensland Rail Becomes QR and Looks Beyond its Borders" Railway Digest November 1999 page 9 In March 2002, Queensland Rail purchased Northern Rivers Railroad and rebranded it Interail, fulfilling a long-held ambition of expanding beyond its state borders.
In March 2003, Queensland Rail entered the Hunter Valley coal market when Interail commenced a contract from Duralie Colliery to Stratford Mine. Another coal contract was won in late 2003 for the haulage of coal from Newstan Colliery, Fassifern to Vales Point Power Station. In 2004, Interail began running Brisbane to Melbourne and Sydney to Melbourne intermodal services. In June 2005, Queensland Rail acquired the CRT Group.Queensland Rail sorts logistics for acquisition The Age 25 June 2005
In June 2006, the Western Australian business of the Australian Railroad Group was purchased.Sale of Australian Railroad Group Wesfarmers 14 February 2006ARG on board Queensland Rail The Age 31 March 2006QR closes national rail freight deal QR National 2 June 2006
Privatisation and the current era
QR was responsible for all Queensland freight services, and from 2002 operated interstate services under the Australian Railroad Group, Interail and QR National brands. These were all spun out into a separate entity in July 2010, and later privatised as Aurizon.
In June 2009, the Queensland Government announced the privatisation of Queensland Rail's freight business.Queensland asset sales to reap $15 billion Brisbane Times 2 June 2009Premier announces QR Privatisation Plan Railway Gazette International 4 June 2009 This resulted in Queensland Rail's freight assets being transferred to QR National (now Aurizon) from 1 July 2010.
In April 2013, the Queensland Parliament passed the Queensland Rail Transit Authority Bill 2013 that restructured Queensland Rail. The explanatory notes published for the bill outlined that the existing Queensland Rail Limited entity would remain although no longer be a government-owned corporation and that entity would become a subsidiary of a new Queensland Rail Transit Authority (QRTA), in effect creating a Queensland Rail group. Under the revised arrangements Queensland Rail Limited retained assets and liabilities and staff were transferred to the QRTA. As a result of transferring the staff to the QRTA, the government moved those employees from the federal industrial relations system to the state-based industrial relations system, giving the state more control over industrial arrangements. In November 2013, five labour unions commenced legal proceedings in the High Court of Australia alleging that the QRTA was subject to the federal industrial jurisdiction rather than the state system. In April 2015, the court ruled the QRTA was subject to the Fair Work Act 2009 and the federal industrial relations jurisdiction.
Company leaders Commissioners
The Commissioners of the Queensland Railways were:
23 December 1863 – October 1864: Abraham Fitzgibbon 28 October 1864 – 29 April 1869: Arthur Orpen Herbert
Note: from 29 April 1869 to 15 July 1870, the Secretary for Public Works was appointed Commissioner for Railways.
15 July 1870 – 12 March 1885: Arthur Orpen Herbert 12 March 1885 – 29 July 1889: Francis W. Curnow
Note: from 29 July 1889 a Board of three Commissioners was appointed to reduce political influence. This was reduced back to a single Commissioner in September 1895.
29 July 1889 – 30 June 1896: John Mathieson (Chief Commissioner) 29 July 1889 – September 1895: Robert John Gray (1st Assistant Commissioner) 29 July 1889 – 13 December 1894: Andrew Johnston (2nd Assistant Commissioner) 1 July 1896 – 30 September 1902: Robert John Gray 5 November 1902 – 24 March 1911: James Forsyth Thallon 30 March 1911 – 31 May 1911: Thomas Mulhall King 1 June 1911 – 31 October 1918: Barnard Charles Evans 1 November 1918 – 28 February 1938: James Walker Davidson 1 March 1938 – 28 February 1941: Curteis Anthony Murton 9 March 1941 – 27 February 1948: Percy Robert Turner Wills 1 March 1948 – 31 August 1952: Timothy Edward Maloney 1 September 1952 – 31 August 1962: Gerald Vincent Moriarty September 1962 – 4 July 1976: Alva George Lee 5 July 1976 – 17 December 1982: Percy James Goldston 13 January 1983 – April 1986: Douglas Vernon Mendoza 20 May 1986 – 31 July 1989: Ralph T. Sheehy 1 August 1989 – December 1989: Ross William Dunning December 1989 – 7 October 1990: Robin G. Read (Acting Commissioner) 8 October 1990 – 30 June 1991: Vincent John O'Rourke
Note: from 1 July 1991 the position of Commissioner for Railways ceased to exist, replaced by a Chief Executive Officer, reporting to a board of Directors.
Chief Executive Officers +NameTenureNotesVincent John O'RourkeJuly 1991 – December 2000Bob ScheuberDecember 2000 – April 2007Stephen CantwellApril 2007 – November 2007Lance HockridgeNovember 2007 – 30 June 2010Paul Scurrah1 July 2010 – 2 December 2011From formation of revised Queensland Rail entity following Public float of QR National. Previously Executive General Manager of QR Passenger subsidiary.James Benstead (acting)December 2011 – August 2013Glen DaweAugust 2013– January 2014Helen Gluer3 April 2014 – 27 October 2016Neil ScalesOctober 2016 – March 2017Nick EasyMarch 2017– December 2021 Katarzyna (Kat) StapletonApril 2022 – present
Services South East Queensland
QR operates urban and interurban rail services throughout South East Queensland as part of the Translink network. Rail services operate on twelve lines: Beenleigh, Brisbane Airport, Caboolture, Cleveland, Doomben, Ferny Grove, Ipswich/Rosewood, Kippa-Ring, Nambour/Gympie North, Shorncliffe, Springfield Central and Varsity Lakes. QR operate these with the Suburban Multiple Unit (SMU), Interurban Multiple Unit (IMU) and New Generation Rollingstock (NGR) electric multiple units.Citytrain fleet Queensland Rail
Long-distance trains Queensland Rail operate five long-distance passenger rail services, under the brand name Queensland Rail Travel (formerly Queensland Rail Traveltrain):Network Map Queensland Rail Travel
Tilt Train: Brisbane to Rockhampton Spirit of Queensland: Brisbane to Cairns Spirit of the Outback: Brisbane to Longreach Westlander: Brisbane to Charleville Inlander: Townsville to Mount Isa
Connecting road coach services are operated.Connections Queensland Rail Travel
Annual patronage all travel and tourism servies in 2022–23 was 690,000. In 2007/08, the subsidy for the Brisbane–Cairns route (NCL) was $130 million, or $900 per passenger. This represented a significant decline from 2001/02, when it was $270 million.
Tourist trains Queensland Rail also operate two tourist services: Gulflander: Normanton to Croydon Kuranda Scenic Railway: Cairns to Kuranda
Former services Queensland Rail operated many named trains including: Capricornian: Brisbane to Rockhampton, operated from 1970 until 1993 when replaced by the Spirit of the Outback