Railways (Access) Act 1998

The Minister is to establish a Code in accordance with this Act to give effect to the Competition Principles Agreement in respect of railways to which the Code applies.

Provision is to be made in the Code —

for railway infrastructure to be available for use by persons other than the railway owner to carry on rail operations in accordance with —

agreements with the railway owner; or

determinations made by way of arbitration;

prescribing —

which parts of the railways network; and

which railway infrastructure associated with those parts,

setting out —

provisions that are to govern the content of agreements and determinations referred to in paragraph (a);

rights, powers and duties that are to apply to and in relation to the negotiation, making, and implementation of agreements; and

duties and requirements in relation to the provision of access that are to be complied with by the railway owner;

for the Regulator to have supervisory and other functions for the purposes of the Code, including a function of determining certain requirements in relation to access that are to be binding on the railway owner, a person making a proposal for access under the Code, and an arbitrator.

Provision may be made in the Code to exclude its application to interstate services and, for that purpose, to define what is an interstate service.