New Zealand Railways

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Logo of the NZRC

The New Zealand Railways Corporation (NZRC) is a state-owned New Zealand company, state-owned enterprise , which the state railway system via the two departments Ontrack (rail) and KiwiRail operates (Rolling device) on behalf of the government. The company was formed in 1982 from the privatization of the New Zealand Railways Department .

Subsidiaries

The following subsidiaries have been subordinate to the two departments since October 2008:

  • Ontrack Infrastructure Limited , operates the New Zealand rail network .
  • KiwiRail Limited , operates the passenger and freight transport.

The KiwiRail Limited in turn consists of the following business areas:

history

Since 1870, when Julius Vogel , then finance minister of the New Zealand colony , launched an unprecedented national campaign to develop New Zealand's infrastructure , rail transport systems have also been a matter for the state. The railway lines that had been built in the years before 1862, which were initiated and operated by private companies or provincial governments, were now placed under government control. Vogel made sure that new lines could be built with borrowed money. The route network was expanded from almost 100 km to almost 1,900 km in just 10 years and carried 3 million passengers while transporting 830,000 tons of goods per year. 20 years later, at the turn of the century , the national route network already covered 3,250 km.

Until 1982, however, ministries always had direct responsibility for the development, expansion and operation of the railway network, which in the more than 100 years that had passed by then changed several times in form, manner and responsibilities, and over the years there has been more and more of the efficiency of the Lack of rail transport. In order to protect the railway network from competition from the road, protectionist measures were even adopted in 1936 and limited road transport to a maximum of 30 miles , later to 40 miles, and finally, in 1977, under pressure from the transport companies, the possible maximum transport distance was increased to 150 km .

In the context of the extremely poor economic situation in New Zealand at the end of the 70s and beginning of the 80s, as well as after considerable financial losses in rail operations, the deregulation of the national rail transport system began in 1983 , the restrictions on transport by road were abolished and thus a competitive situation between road transport and the Rail transport, as a result of which rail operations continued to generate more and more losses.

After an accumulated deficit in the order of magnitude of NZ $ 1.1 billion until 1990, the decision was finally made to restructure and privatize the rail system, and in the same year New Zealand Rail Limited (NZR) was founded and the rail network and the rail network were transferred to it Rail operations.

In 1993 the government sold New Zealand Rail Limited, including its rail network and rail operations, to an American consortium for NZ $ 328 million , which renamed the company Tranz Rail in 1995 and listed it on the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) a year later in 1996 . In order to safeguard the national interests in the matters of rail transport and to control the now private operator of the system accordingly, the government established simultaneously with the sale on the basis of the New Zealand Railways Corporation Act of 1981, the New Zealand Railways Corporation , which reports directly to the Minister of Railways was subordinate.

After Tranz Rail fell into the red and the maintenance of the rail network threatened to be neglected, the New Zealand government first decided in 2000 to buy back the route network in Auckland . Surprisingly, the Australian Toll Holdings came into play, took over the deficit Tranz Rail and believed that it could continue to operate the New Zealand railway system profitably under the name Toll Rail without state influence, but not without making financial demands on the government for the maintenance of the route network .

After lengthy negotiations, the government gave Tranz Rail in 2003 before its takeover a cash injection of 75.8 million NZ $, eventually bought all of the remaining route network for only 1 NZ $ back and transferred the as a subsidiary of the New Zealand Railways Corporation , founded Transfield Service Infrastructure (New Zealand) Limited - renamed Ontrack Infrastructure Limited on February 10, 2006 - the network. But even in the following years there were disagreements between Toll Holdings and the government, which in 2006 almost led to the overlander being discontinued. On 1 July 2008 the government finally bought the rail and ferry service from the Toll Holdings for 665 million NZ $ back and transferred both on 1 October 2008 by the New Zealand Railways Corporation , founded KiwiRail Limited .

With the buybacks, the once celebrated privatization of New Zealand's railways came to a painful end. The "apprenticeship": NZ $ 328 million sales proceeds - NZ $ 665 million buyback - NZ $ 200 million maintenance investments, makes a total loss of at least NZ $ 537 million. In addition, Toll Holdings was granted exclusive rights to use the New Zealand rail network for its transport companies for up to 66 years. Since July 2008, however, the New Zealand railway has been 100% state-owned again.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/commercial-portfolio-and-advice/commercial-portfolio/new-zealand-railways-corporation
  2. ^ Julius Vogel (1835–1899) Journalist, Politician, Premier, Writer - Dictionary of New Zealand Biography , accessed December 29, 2008
  3. ^ A b New Zealand to buy back rail operator from Toll Holdings - International Harald Tribune, May 5, 2008, accessed December 29, 2008
  4. ↑ Companies Register Search New Zealand Companies Office, accessed December 29, 2008
  5. ^ Loss of patronage results in closure of Overlander - Scoop Business, July 25, 2006, accessed December 29, 2008
  6. ↑ News from the former neoliberal model country - Heise Online from May 9, 2008 (German), accessed on December 29, 2008
  7. ↑ New Zealand buys back privatized railway - "Niedergang des Vermögens" - Handelsblatt, May 5, 2008, accessed on December 29, 2008