Brookfield Rail is the provider of “below” rail freight infrastructure in the south-west of Western Australia. Brookfield Rail is wholly-owned by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (Brookfield Infrastructure).
Brookfield Rail is now the lessee of the rail network under the 2000 lease agreement with the Western Australian Government and, for the purposes of section 3 of the Railways (Access) Act 1998 which defines a “railway owner” to mean the person having the management and control of the use of the railway infrastructure, is considered to be the railway owner for the freight railway network with management and control of the non-urban rail network.
Brookfield Rail controls over 5,000 kilometers of track throughout the southern half of Western Australia – from Geraldton, to Leonora and Kalgoorlie and to Esperance, Albany and Bunbury.
You can download a map of Brookfield Rail’s rail network in the South of Western Australia here.
Brookfield Rail’s network transports a wide range of commodities including grain, alumina, bauxite, iron ore and interstate freight – as well as passengers on the Perth to Kalgoorlie and Perth to Bunbury lines.
A brief history of the West Australian freight network
In December 2000, the Government announced that the freight business of the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR), trading as Westrail, had been sold to the
Australian Railroad Group Pty Ltd (
ARG). ARG was a vertically integrated railway company, comprising both above and below rail business activities.
In 2006 ARG was sold to a consortium comprising Babcock and Brown and Queensland Rail. The below rail business, trading as WestNet Rail (WNR), subsequently went to Babcock and Brown, and the above rail business to Queensland Rail.
In late 2009, Babcock and Brown Infrastructure became known as Prime Infrastructure and in mid 2011 Prime Infrastructure was delisted as a public company. Prime Infrastructure is now owned by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners. To reflect these ownership changes, WestNet Rail was renamed Brookfield Rail in August 2011.
