Off the Rails: The Privatisation of Freight Railways in Australia and New Zealand, and the Consequences

This book tells the stories of the transformation of the rail freight industry, in Australia and New Zealand, from 1990 to 2020.Privatisation was seen in the 1990s as the way for state and national governments to avoid the on-going deficits of their railway systems. The policy of privatisation was applied with faith and hope, but with no understanding of the risks for governments as policy-makers for their economies and for land transport. Governments became ignorant of, and uninterested in, the freight rail industry, and thus were unprepared for the consequences of their earlier decisions. In Australia, it is now recognised that policy gridlock has ensued. In New Zealand, the Government was forced to pay far too much to renationalise the country's railway system, in order to avoid subsidising its private owner in perpetuity. Explaining what happened, where, and why, and how political ideology influenced the outcomes, is the purpose of this book. Spencer Naith worked for over thirty years in freight railways as a research leader, project manager and consultant in railway operations planning and service design. He has a deep knowledge of the interplay of the resources required to operate freight railways successfully. His personal experience, in both Australia and New Zealand, of the changes in business culture and practices that were brought about by privatisation of freight railways led him to research and write this book.