The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said it was asking for public comment on whether its concerns could be addressed by Aurizon’s plans to sell off One Rail’s east coast coal haulage business.

Aurizon’s planned takeover was a strategy to give it greater exposure to goods other than coal haulage where it is a dominant player in Queensland and NSW.

The ACCC said it had not formed a view about whether the proposed undertaking could resolve the competition concerns.

“A critical issue for the ACCC is determining whether Aurizon’s divestiture undertaking will be effective in replacing the competition that would be lost because of the proposed acquisition,” the ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

She said the ACCC would have to be satisfied any buyer, or the demerged business, would be an effective, stand alone, long term competitor in the supply of coal haulage and non-coal bulk haulage.

“By reducing the number of competitors in the supply of coal haulage in NSW and Queensland from three to two and removing an important competitor to Pacific National and Aurizon we have preliminary concerns that the proposed acquisition of One Rail by Aurizon would be likely to substantially lessen competition,” Cass-Gottlieb said.

Aurizon said it confident that the undertaking will address any competition concerns identified by the ACCC.