Rail transport in Tasmania – May 2010

 

TasRail was the name used by the Australian National Railways Commissions Tasmania that took over the Tasmania Government Railways in the mid 1970’s and merged the operations under the “TasRail” brand.

 

During 2003 TasRail was purchased by Pacific National which is owned by Toll Holdings and the Patrick group. During this time the amount of rail traffic dropped off quite a lot and a number of breakdowns and concerns around poor track maintenance and management of the rail system meant that rail transport was always in the media spotlight.

 

After Pacific National wanted to pull out of rail in the state the state government purchased the rail network in late 2009 and it is now owned by the Tasmania Railway Company which is trading as TasRail. As of May 2010 the rail network still has limited use and with the closures of some major businesses and users it is unknown what the future holds for rail in Tasmania.