2015 draft access undertaking

Final approval of Queensland Rail’s amended 2015 DAU

We approved Queensland Rail’s amended 2015 draft access undertaking on 11 October 2016. The amended DAU, submitted on 15 September 2016, is now the 2016 access undertaking for Queensland Rail, with a termination date of 30 June 2020.

The amended DAU and the QCA’s letter to Queensland Rail about its decision can be downloaded below from the ‘final approval’ folder.

2015 draft decision on Queensland Rail’s 2015 DAU

On 8 October 2015, we released our draft decision on Queensland Rail’s 2015 DAU.

We sought views from interested parties on our draft decision by Thursday 24 December 2015.

We received submissions from five stakeholders commenting on our draft decision on Queensland Rail’s 2015 DAU and related matters and published them on 15 January 2016.

In light of the large amount of new material provided, we sought further comments from stakeholders, to help inform us in ourpreparation of a decision on the 2015 DAU.

We accepted Queensland Rail’s request that we extend the deadline for further submissions by five weeks, to 14 March 2016.

Request for comment paper

On 19 January 2016, staff published a ‘request for comment’ paper to assist stakeholders as they prepared their ‘submissions on submissions’ as set out above.

QCA staff developed the requests for further stakeholder comments to inform the QCA on matters relevant to its investigation of the 2015 DAU proposed by Queensland Rail. While these requests for further stakeholder comments highlighted some matters related to the DAU and submissions on the draft decision, they were not intended to be comprehensive. Hence, interested parties were to rely on their own analysis to determine whether there were additional matters on which they wished to comment.

QCA’s draft decision reference tariff model

A redacted version of our draft decision West Moreton Network and Metropolitan Network reference tariff model was available upon request to interested parties.  Any comments on the model were to be made as part of the further submissions.

Addendum to request for comment paper

On 15 February 2016, staff published an ‘addendum to request for comment’ paper, to provide an indicative estimate of a possible adjustment amount for the Metropolitan network (east of Rosewood). We emphasised this was an indicative estimate, produced only for the purpose of aiding the making of submissions. Stakeholders were invited to comment on how, if the QCA decided that there would be an adjustment amount for the Metropolitan network, such an adjustment amount should be calculated, as part of the submission on submission process.

The addendum can be found in the ‘request for further comment’ folder on this page.

Revised B&H report—‘Review of Queensland Rail’s 2015 DAU’

We also uploaded a revised version of B&H report (‘Review of Queensland Rail’s 2015 DAU’, accompanying our October 2015 draft decision) in which we revealed some of the information that had been redacted from the version we previously published. The new version can be found in the ‘draft decision’ folder on this page.

Submission after request for comment papers

We received further submissions from seven stakeholders by 14 March 2016, after we published our request for comment and addendum papers.

The submissions can be found in the ‘submissions after request for further comment’ folder on this page.

On 4 February 2015, we issued an initial undertaking notice under section 133 of the Queensland Competition Authority Act 1997 (the QCA Act) requiring Queensland Rail to submit a draft access undertaking (DAU) to us within 90 days after receiving the notice.  This notice commenced a mandatory process under the QCA Act for putting in place an approved access undertaking for Queensland Rail’s declared service.

This notice followed Queensland Rail’s withdrawal of its June 2013 voluntary draft access undertaking on 12 December 2014.

On 5 May 2015, we received from Queensland Rail a draft access undertaking (2015 DAU) within the time specified in our initial undertaking notice.

Under section 134 of the QCA Act, we must consider a DAU submitted in response to an initial undertaking notice and decide whether to approve that DAU.

We QCA invited interested parties to make written submissions on the 2015 DAU by Friday 5 June 2015.

We published a preliminary independent economic expert report assessing the asset valuation methodologies which were considered by us prior to the withdrawal of the 2013 DAU.  Accordingly, we did not take into account Queensland Rail’s 2015 DAU.  We considered the 2015 DAU afresh pursuant to section 134 of the QCA Act.

However, in the interests of the 2015 DAU being considered in a timely manner, the QCA published the preliminary expert report and invited stakeholders to make submissions on the report as part of commenting on Queensland Rail’s 2015 DAU.  This enabled us to address any stakeholder submissions as part of its draft decision on the 2015 DAU, making for early participation and efficiency in the decision making process.  The independent expert report was preliminary only and did not in any way reflect our of the QCA with respect to the 2015 DAU.

Request for comments paper

On 15 May 2015, we published a request for comments, including a set of questions, to help stakeholders prepare submissions on Queensland Rail’s 2015 DAU.  This material was prepared by QCA staff and did not bind, nor did it represent, the views of the QCA.

Submissions on 2015 DAU

We received submissions from nine stakeholders commenting on Queensland Rail’s 2015 DAU and related matters, by the deadline of 5 June 2015.

On 12 December 2014, Queensland Rail withdrew its 2013 draft access undertaking (the June 2013 DAU).  Queensland Rail said it intended to submit a revised access undertaking in April 2015.

On 17 October 2014, we published our draft decision declining to approve Queensland Rail’s June 2013 DAU.

The draft decision proposed to accept key aspects of Queensland Rail’s proposed June 2013 DAU (e.g. removing ringfencing arrangements, a light-handed audit regime, simplified dispute resolution process and allowing the publishing of a variety of documents on the web, and not including them in the undertaking).  However, the draft decision also proposed to reject other aspects of the June 2013 DAU (e.g. the greater movement of risks and liabilities away from Queensland Rail and onto its customers and the significant increase in the proposed tariff for western system coal trains).

Working draft

On 3 December 2014, we published a working draft of potential amendments to Queensland Rail’s 2013 draft access undertaking (DAU) and a standard operator access agreement.

At a stakeholder forum on 5 February 2015, staff undertook to also prepare a working draft of a split access agreement.  On 20 March 2015, we published a version of the split access agreement based on the 2010 Aurizon undertaking split access agreements.

The positions in the draft decision that we published on 17 October 2014 ranged from specific views on some matters (such as a reference tariff) to in-principle views on various aspects of the DAU and the standard operator access agreement.

QCA staff prepared a working draft of possible amendments to the DAU and standard operator access agreement to give an indication of how those in-principle views might be given effect. The published amendments to the 2013 DAU and working draft of the standard access agreements represented one way, but perhaps not the only way, to implement those in-principle views.   Nevertheless, we thought it may assist stakeholders to have a sense of what the drafting might look like.

Similarly, the working draft of a split access agreement prepared at the request of stakeholders at the forum, represents one way, but perhaps not the only way, that the matters contained in those working drafts might be addressed.  Again, these papers were published as we thought it may assist stakeholders to have a sense of what the drafting might look like.

The working drafts were prepared by QCA staff and were not been considered by the board of the QCA. There should be no conclusion drawn that the QCA reached a final decision on any matters.

The QCA’s draft decision included a response to Queensland Rail’s proposed reference tariffs for coal train services on the Western system.

The draft decision took into account submissions provided to the June 2013 DAU as well as on our consultation paper [dated 6 June 2014] that included two options for the Western system coal tariff.  This decision had also been informed by the workshop that was held on 19 June 2014 and attended by Queensland Rail and its Western system customers.

Accompanying the draft decision was a new paper, prepared by our technical consultant (B&H Strategic Services (B&H)), assessing Queensland Rail’s proposed asset base as well as a paper by Incenta Economic Consulting, assessing Queensland Rail’s debt margin.

Queensland Rail submitted a draft access undertaking on 28 June 2013.  The June 2013 DAU was to apply from 1 July 2013 to 30 June 2017 and would have replaced the access arrangements set out in the 2008 access undertaking.

The June 2013 DAU replaced the earlier February 2013 DAU and, notably, included proposed reference tariffs for Western system coal train services.

We considered the June 2013 DAU in accordance with s. 138(2) of the QCA Act.

The February 2013 DAU set out the terms and conditions under which Queensland Rail proposed to provide access to rail infrastructure. The DAU did not include reference tariffs for western system coal services as Queensland Rail was continuing to consult with users about that.

We received four submissions on the February 2013 DAU, and a further five submissions resulted from a series of working group meetings between Queensland Rail and interested parties.

On 28 June 2013, Queensland Rail submitted reference tariffs for Western system coal services, and proposed consequential amendments to the February 2013 DAU. This, in effect, was a withdrawal of its February 2013 DAU and submission of a new voluntary draft access undertaking (the June 2013 DAU).

The QCA’s consideration of the 2012 draft access undertaking (2012 DAU) concluded on 25 February 2013, when Queensland Rail submitted the February 2013 DAU, which sought to address some of stakeholders’ comments on the 2012 DAU.

Queensland Rail submitted the 2012 DAU on 30 March 2012.

It set out the terms and conditions under which Queensland Rail proposed to provide access to its rail infrastructure covered.

On 30 April 2012, we published an issues paper to assist stakeholders in preparing their comments on the 2012 DAU.