Rail users call for more assurances on Victorian access

<p>Rail users have told a Victorian Government committee reviewing rail access in the state that Pacific National will have too much power over the network, the <em>Australian Financial Review</em> has reported. </p> <p>The government’s planned aim is that the Patrick&#47Toll joint venture Pacific National should only be able to recover its investment if it does allow third party access to the track. </p> <p>The government has given the Essential Services Commission wider powers to settle access disputes, and a pricing system has been put in place. </p> <p>However, in supplementary submissions, GrainCorp has called for a complete separation of the above-rail freight business and the track. It said that Pacific National is always going to be commercially reluctant to allow others onto the tracks with sufficient certainty.</p> <p>GrainCorp had tried and failed to get its own services onto the tracks for some years after the 1999 privatisation sale of the network to Freight Australia. </p> <p>Pacific National bought a 45-year lease on the track when it took over Freight Australia last year for $285m.</p> <br />