Long Title |
The purpose of this Bill is to provide the legislative authority for the Government to sell Westrail’s freight business and the associated assets other than the freight railway corridor. To achieve this, the Bill provides for -
the establishment of a Rail Corridor Minister to exercise powers on behalf of the State in respect of the freight railway corridor, including the power to dispose of interests and right of use no greater than leasehold; the conferral of powers on the Minister and Westrail to dispose of the rail freight business; the removal of the freight railway from the control of the Government Railways Act 1904, designating it as "corridor land" or "land other than corridor land" and placing it under the control of the Rail Corridor Minister; the cancellation of the designation of corridor land if the agreement permitting its use is terminated. There is provision for the land to be redesignated as a government railway in such a case; placing the rail corridor on an equal footing to a road corridor with respect to exemption from State land taxes and local government rates; and
extending the application of the State rail access regime to a private operator of the Westrail network, and amending the Government Railways (Access) Act 1998 accordingly. |