Freight Rail

Fullerton to retire from ARTC

ARTC boss John Fullerton. Photo: Shutterstock / Inset: ARTC

John Fullerton will retire from his role as chief executive officer of and managing director of the Australian Rail Track Corporation, the federal government’s rail network owner.

Fullerton, CEO of the ARTC since 2011, will step down midway through next year, ARTC chairman Warren Truss announced on August 14.

“John has enjoyed a dedicated and successful engineering and business leadership career in the rail industry for 40 years including almost ten years at the head of the ARTC,” Truss said.

Truss, the former leader of the Nationals who himself joined the ARTC in 2018, described Fullerton as one of the iconic figures in the modern Australian rail industry, and a well-regarded and trusted executive “right across the industry”.

“Under his tenure with ARTC [Fullerton] has led a steep change in safety performance, customer focus and asset improvement,” Truss said.

“He has also been instrumental in putting in place the organisation and skills to commence construction on the nation building Inland Rail project.”

Truss said the ARTC Board has already engaged executive search firm Spencer Stuart to assist a global search for the next managing director.

“The Board is grateful that John has given early notice of his wish to retire, and for his willingness to provide continuing leadership of the business to enable a planned and sustainable transition phase to a new CEO,” Truss said.

“We acknowledge John’s desire to move on to the next phase of his life and thank him for his exceptional service to ARTC.”

Before he joined the ARTC, Fullerton was the chief executive officer of FreightLink, then the owner-operator of the Adelaide-Darwin railway. He was also divisional general manager of operations services at Pacific National. He had joined Pacific National when it acquired the National Rail Corporation, where Fullerton spend eight years as chief operating officer.