QR's Journey

QR’s national expansion strategy emerged in the late 1990s as National Competition Policy reforms opened new opportunities with national rail infrastructure becoming available to third-parties.

These reforms sparked a major shift in the dynamics of the Australian rail sector. Massive consolidation ensued, all state-owned freight operators except QR were privatised and new players joined the industrylocally and from overseas.

In 2002, QR made its first move outside of Queensland acquiring a small freight business in NSW. It soon started east coast freight operations between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Two years later QR’s first coal trains were running in the Hunter Valley. The following year it acquired the specialist logistics business CRT and a year later,
in 2006, it secured West Australian bulk haulier ARG. General freight trains commenced from Melbourne to Perth in 2007, creating a genuine national network from Cairns to Perth.

It’s a far cry from QR’s humble beginnings in July 1865 when the first section of railway line in Queensland was opened to traffic from Ipswich to Bigges Camp (now known as Grandchester). With around 250 employees, the twenty-one mile stretch of line signalled the launch of QR.

Today, QR is a company with $11.4 billion of assets and 15,000 people in the freight and logistics, passenger and
infrastructure sectors, generating over $3.5 billion of annual revenue.

When you choose QR for any of our products and services, we’ll work hard to find an innovative solution to your transport and logistics needs.