Rail chief urges industry to get back on track

Pacific National chief executive Don Telford pledged today to work towards an open access regime for the nation's intermodal terminals.

Mr Telford, who is also Australasian Railway Assocation chairman, said at Ausrail 2008 he would establish an ARA working group "to review the way we do business and seriously consider the Australian adoption of the US/Canadian Interchange Agreement".

"For too long, freight operators have been fighting each other and believe me Pacific National has been the worst offender," Mr Telford said.

"We need to concentrate on working together and get freight off the road and onto rail and not fight each other."

Mr Telford also took rail manufacturers to task over "endless different component specifications for each state".

"It is sheer lunacy that the same basic rail car in Western Australia and Queensland has over 650 different components," he said.