our forward investment program. We have
also maintained our Aa2 Moody’s credit rating
and our balance sheet remains strong with net
assets of $3.46 billion (up from $3.33 billion)
and a gearing ratio of 23.8 per cent*.
* Interest Bearing Liabilities divided by Total Equity
and Interest Bearing Liabilities
INTERSTATE NETWORK
With the completion of our substantial investment
program on the Melbourne to Brisbane (North
South) corridor including the Southern Sydney
Freight Line and the North Coast curve easing
civil works, the potential for growth in this
market is our greatest focus within the business.
The completion of these projects along with
the implementation of our five year Ballast
Rehabilitation Project to improve the track
condition between Melbourne and Sydney
has delivered a marked improvement in
train reliability on this corridor. Reliability
comparisons for the month of June 2013 show a
40 per cent improvement over June 2012 figures.
As major bottlenecks are removed from the
east coast corridor and the track is upgraded
we are confident that the use of rail for general
freight will continue to grow. During the year we
witnessed the start-up of some new business
onto this corridor with the commencement of
new Woolworth’s freight and significant freight
volumes from the Ettamogah Rail Hub in Albury.
On the Sydney Metropolitan Freight Network
we are nearing the completion of the Stage 2
Port Botany Line upgrade. Commissioning of
the Enfield Staging Facility will provide capacity
to hold and re-sequence trains away from the
congested Port Botany area, make for a smoother
transit between the Port and intermodal freight
terminals in west and south west Sydney
(including the proposed Moorebank Intermodal
Terminal) and regional NSW. This will be
complemented by the Cooks River re‑signalling
project which will activate centralised control
of train movements on the approach to Port
Botany from ARTC’s Network Control Centre in
Junee and boost capacity to cater for increases
in rail volumes to and from the Port. Combined
with the proposed construction of theMoorebank
Intermodal Terminal, this metropolitan freight
precinct will be transformed in the coming years.
On our East West corridor a 15 year wholesale
agreement with Western Australian track
owner Brookfield Rail was signed during the
year, cementing a long-term commitment
to continue operating the network under a
common framework and to jointly market the
corridor to attract more freight to rail. As part of
this agreement ARTC paid $55 million to assist
Brookfield Rail to upgrade its network between
Perth and Kalgoorlie and has committed to
a further $5 million conditional payment to
support future upgrades.
A Federally funded project on the Adelaide urban
network at Goodwood Junction also removed a
bottleneck by separating the freight and urban
tracks, which will support larger trains to operate
between Melbourne and Adelaide.
The growing minerals industry in
South Australia has seen ArriumMining &
Minerals moving iron ore from its mine at
Peculiar Knob, 660km northwest of Adelaide,
to Whyalla via our network. Collectively, IMX
Resources, Oz Minerals and Arrium increased
the number of services that operate on this
corridor by around 40 per cent during 2012/13.
Increased traffic in this part of the network has
meant that ARTC has needed to commence a
program to invest around $50 million to install
a new safeworking system between Coonamia
and Tarcoola, to replace sections of rail and to
construct new infrastructure. This work is on
top of the $292 million project to replace the rail
between Whyalla and Broken Hill to allow for
heavier axle loads.
In May 2013, the Australian Government
announced it would invest $50 million to
support ARTC to test and trial its new Advanced
Train Management System (ATMS) on our
network between Port Augusta and Tarcoola in
South Australia.
The completion of these projects along with
the $292 million re-railing program, $22 million
Ambleside Loop and $260 million in new
concrete sleepers has and will play an important
role in boosting the performance of the East
West rail corridor.
HUNTER VALLEY NETWORK
Despite coal prices dropping and the general
uncertainty in other parts of the economy, coal
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