ONTRACK is part of KiwiRail Group (New Zealand Railways Corporation), a statutory corporation which covers all aspects of the rail and ferry business that are in public ownership. ONTRACK is responsible for managing the maintenance and renewal of the national rail network. Our role has changed rapidly over recent years as the popularity of rail has grown.
Responsible for the rail network againAfter Tranz Rail bought the rail network during the privatisation of the railways, NZRC was responsible for managing the Crown’s interest in the lease of rail land to Tranz Rail.
In 2004, Tranz Rail was bought by Australian-based Toll Holdings. The Government then repurchased the infrastructure network and signed the National Rail Access Agreement (NRAA) with Toll. The NRAA agreed that:
- Toll would have exclusive commercial use for 66 years, under a ’use it or lose it’ clause relating to individual lines
- the Crown would inject $200 million into the rail network - $100 million each for renewals and upgrades.
The access agreement meant Toll (now KiwiRail) is our most significant customer, but other parties also have rights to use the track network.
Ongoing investment in the rail networkThe Government is committed to carbon neutrality and sees rail as being of growing importance as both a freight and people mover.
Since the Government returned the rail network to public sector ownership, it has earmarked more than $1.5 billion to improving the network — more than $1 billion being in the Auckland region.
This significant resource is already improving the network’s capacity and major upgrade projects are currently being undertaken in Wellington and Auckland.
Recent changes
Following ongoing negotiations over the implementation of the National Rail Access Agreement, on 1 July 2008 the Government purchased Toll NZ's rail and ferry businesses. These were renamed KiwiRail.
From 1 October 2008 KiwiRail Group (New Zealand Railways Corporation) became the single entity responsible for both rail and ferry services and rail infrastructure.