TasRail reveals $51m loss as tracks devalue, infrastructure spending up
Alarming new figures show Tasmania's train drivers faced twice as many near-death encounters with vehicles at rail crossings last year, sparking urgent safety concerns.
More than double the drivers risked their lives at rail crossings compared to last year.
That’s what the latest TasRail annual report found.
There was a “sharp increase” in instances of drivers failing to give way to trains at level crossings.
The statistics found instances more than doubled, rising to 137 incidents from 68 the previous year.
The three major regions in the state, North, North-West and south each had an increase in road user-noncompliance, TasRail also found.
Last August, TasRail announced it had secured $5m for level crossing upgrades from the Commonwealth and Tasmanian governments.
At that time, TasRail chief executive officer Steven Dietrich said level crossing incidents were traumatic for their locomotive drivers, emergency services and level communities.
“This new funding will help us take real steps towards reducing the risk at key locations — but we also need all road users to do their part,” Mr Dietrich said.
Meanwhile, the government business entity has again posted a multimillion-dollar net loss after tax, pointing to infrastructure spending on the rail network, the $82m Shiploader project and devaluation of rail assets.
TasRail made a net loss after tax of $51.51m for the last financial year, an improvement from the 2023-24 loss of $73.24m.
The state government-owned rail company released these figures in its 2024-25 annual report published Tuesday, putting the loss down to growing impairment expenses for the network.
The $41.3m cost includes spending on rail network upgrades, the new Shiploader project at the Burnie port and revaluations of railway vehicles.
“The infrastructure assets constructed are impaired as they do not generate sufficient revenue to sustain the Below Rail segment of the Company without recurrent State Government contributions,” the report stated.
The $82m Shiploader was completed in May this year and has double the shiploading capacity of the previous 50-year-old machine.
This project was funded by the Australian Government and, as such, does not count as revenue for TasRail.
Total Australian Government funding for TasRail in 2024-25 was $24.7m, while Tasmanian Government funding was $10.8m.
It’s not all doom and gloom for the company, with the TasRail-commissioned report by 2XF showing that operating a freight rail system over the next 10 years is economically beneficial to Tasmania on a 1.3 ratio. That means that for every $1 invested, $1.30 in economic investment is returned.
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Originally published as TasRail reveals $51m loss as tracks devalue, infrastructure spending up
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