Our History

1855

NSW Government Railways (NSWGR) commences operations

1912

Commonwealth Railways formed to build the national rail network of Australia

1975

Australian National Railways (ANR) formed to take over the assets and operations of Commonwealth Railways

1992

National Rail formed taking over the interstate assets and operations of ANR

1996

FreightCorp formed to take over the freight rail operations of NSW Railways

2002

Pacific National, a joint venture between Toll and Patrick Corporation, acquires National Rail and FreightCorp from the Federal, Victoria and NSW Governments

2004

Pacific National acquire Freight Australia

2005

Pacific National becomes the first non-government entity operating in Queensland

2007

Pacific National and Patrick Ports separate from Toll to form the Asciano Group

2009

Pacific National enters the Queensland coal market

2016

Pacific National separates from Patrick and sets up as a standalone company under new ownership

2017

Pacific National announces significant investment in Parkes Logistics Terminal in regional New South Wales

2019

Pacific National Parkes Logistics Terminal (Phase one) is completed and commences operations

2020

Pacific National acquires Acacia Ridge Terminal in Brisbane

2021

Construction of St Marys Freight Hub is completed and commences operations

2023

Commissioned 50 new NR94 Class Locomotives to join our fleet