The AustralAsia Railway Corporation is a statutory body established under the AustralAsia Railway Corporation Act 1996 and supported by South Australia through complementary legislation.

The Corporation was established in 1997 by the Northern Territory and South Australian Governments to manage the awarding of a Build, Own, Operate and Transfer back (BOOT) concession and to enter into contractual arrangements with the successful consortium.

The governments jointly guarantee the corporation’s obligations which are specified in contractual arrangements covered by the project documents. The respective rights and obligations of the two governments and the project are regulated by an Inter- Governmental Agreement.

The Corporation has negotiated a detailed Concession Deed which seeks to deal with all risks identified as having the potential to arise during the project and balance those risks by apportioning appropriate responsibility for them.

The Corporation is based in Darwin. Chairman Rick Allert is a prominent South Australian businessman. The Chief Executive Officer is Paul Tyrrell, Chief Executive of the Northern Territory Department of the Chief Minister and head of the Northern Territory Railway Unit.

In the transition from construction to operational phase, the corporation’s role will change substantially. Ongoing functions for the concession period are:

• to manage to Corporation's contractual obligations under the project documents
• monitoring and reporting on the project to shareholders;
• protecting the interests of the three governments and ensuring the consortium is meeting its obligations under the project documents, including those covering operations and maintenance of the existing Tarcoola to Alice Springs railway;
• facilitating the resolution of any issues between the Asia Pacific Transport company and government agencies to ensure the Northern Territory Government carries out its obligations;
• participating in a range of committees stipulated in contractual documents, covering matters such as design, community issues, environmental monitoring, Aboriginal issues, industry participation, and port development;
• monitoring the obligations of the consortium under the Local Industry and Aboriginal Participation Plan, under which the Asia Pacific Transport company has committed to spend at least 75 per cent of construction expenditure on South Australian and Northern Territory goods, services and labour;
• contract and lease administration.