New Zealand Railways Corporation
| Statutory corporation (1982-1986) State-owned enterprise (1986 - ) |
|
| Predecessor | New Zealand Railways Department |
| Founded | 1 April 1982 |
| Headquarters | Wellington, New Zealand |
|
Area served
|
New Zealand |
|
Key people
|
John Spencer (Chairman) |
| Services | Land ownership |
| Revenue | $31,000 (FY2013) |
| Website | www |
New Zealand Railways Corporation (NZRC) is the state-owned enterprise that owns the land beneath KiwiRail's railway network on behalf of the Crown. The Corporation has existed under a number of guises since 1982, when the old New Zealand Railways Department was corporatised followed by deregulation of the land transport sector. In 1986, the Corporation became a State-owned enterprise, required to make a profit. Huge job losses and cut backs ensued, and the rail network, rail operations and ferry service of the Corporation were transferred to New Zealand Rail Limited in 1990. The Corporation retained ownership of the land beneath the railway network, and charged a nominal rental to New Zealand Rail, which was privatised in 1993, and renamed Tranz Rail in 1995. In 2004, following a deal with Tranz Rail's new owners Toll NZ, the Corporation took over responsibility for maintaining and upgrading the rail network once more, trading under the name ONTRACK. However negotiations with Toll over track access charges concluded after four years with no agreement reached, so the government purchased the entire rail and ferry operations, naming the service KiwiRail. ONTRACK's railway infrastructure and employees were then transferred to KiwiRail in 2008, which itself was initially a subsidiary of the Corporation. However, on 31 December 2012 the Corporation once again became the land owner.
The NZRC was created as a statutory corporation by the New Zealand Railways Corporation Act 1981 from the New Zealand Railways Department. It took over the operations of the department from 1 April 1982. Since then, NZRC's role has changed with various governments' policies.
Like the Railways Department that preceded it, the Corporation had a responsible Minister, the Minister of Railways. Along with rail operations, the Corporation inherited New Zealand Railways Road Services bus, truck and parcels services and SeaRail interisland ferries.
During the 1980s NZRC faced many business challenges, such as the growth of competition from road freight operators following the deregulation of the land transport industry from 1983 by the repeal of the Transport Licensing Act 1931. The Corporation's revenues were halved by the new competition.
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Wikipedia