The High Court of Australia has announced it will remit its rail access application back to the Australian Competition Tribunal (ACT), meaning it could now declare relevant railways open for third party access.

 

The High Court upheld an appeal by Fortescue Metals Group agsinst a decision by the Full Federal Court that Fortescue, and other third parties, could not gain access to Pilbara rail lines operated by Rio Tinto.

 

The High Court ruling requires that the ACT make a fresh decision over Rio Tinto’s appeal against the decision by Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan that opened Rio Tinto’s Hamersley and Rob railway lines for a 20 year period to 2028.

 

Previous that the move by the Treasurer, the ACT had determined that third party groups could not access the Hamersley line and that the Robe line would be limited to a period of 10 years to 2018.

 

Fortescue Chief Executive Officer Nev Power said that this was a welcome development in the long running battle for access and Fortescue would put a strong case to the ACT that the Treasurer’s declarations should stand.

 

“We remain committed to the principle of third party access and are proud to operate our own railway on an open access basis carrying third party ore,” Mr Power said.