Ninemsn reported that Asciano Group had applied to the National Competition Council to have the use of Queensland's coal rail track assets declared under the Trade Practices Act.

Mr Mark Rowsthorn CEO of Asciano said that declaration was needed to prevent a privatized QR National from engaging in anti competitive behavior by using its track monopoly to benefit its freight business. If track access is declared, Asciano and other freight companies will acquire a legal right to negotiate access to the track with the service provider and seek arbitration of disputes from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Mr Rowsthorn said that "A privatized QR National, which owns both the freight business and the tracks on which it competes with businesses like Asciano is intolerable as the existing regulatory structure does not have the necessary protections to deliver a level playing field. The current arrangements allow the network part of the QR National business, QR Network to structure contracts so that it is difficult for a coal miner to move away from using QR National for its coal haulage requirements. It puts at risk more than USD 1.5 billion of potential investment from Asciano in Queensland."

He said that, under the current structure, a privatized QR National would be just like Telstra, which owns both a telephone business and the wires on which it competes against its peers. Asciano had requested that the Queensland government move to protect competition but had not seen anything tangible do far.

Mr Rowsthorn said that seeking a declaration from the National Competition Council was a last resort. If track access is declared, it will create uncertainty not just for the float, but for access pricing and it could take up to 12 months before a final outcome is known. But this is preferable to a situation where we are forced to negotiate access, without the regulatory protections we are seeking with a competitor who has every incentive to discriminate against us.

He said that Asciano had asked the Queensland government to change the structure of the proposed privatized QR National so that most of QR National's board is independent of the QR Network board. Asciano also wants a requirement on QR Network not to discriminate between competing above-rail operations and that track operations be subject to regulatory oversight to prevent anti competitive behavior. Asciano also wants an improved obligation to invest clause to ensure investment matches industry demand, not just QR National's needs.

(Sourced from Ninemsn.com)