Great Southern Railway

Submission to the Productivity Commission

Road and Rail Freight Infrastructure Pricing

May 2006

Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary
2. Introduction
2.1 Great Southern Railway’s Submission
2.2 Productivity Commission Terms of Reference
2.3 Great Southern Railway, Scope and Scale of Operations
2.4 Great Southern Railway, External Benefits
2.5 A Historical Perspective
2.6 Long Term Viability
3. Costs Imposed by Freight and Passenger Trains on Rail Infrastructure
4. Existing Access Pricing Anomalies between Passenger and Freight Trains
4.1 Comparative Pricing of Typical Freight and Passenger Trains
4.2 No Rational Justification for Disproportionate Flag-fall Prices
4.3 Current Total Charges Expressed as a Price per GTK
4.4 Flag-fall and Demand Risk
5. Capacity to Pay
5.1 Why Consider Capacity to Pay
5.2 Long Distance Passenger Rail has a Lower Capacity to Pay
6. Proposed Access Price Structures
6.1 Summary of Current Situation