Standard gauge and standard loading gauge

[dbromage@omni.com.au (David Bromage)]

I don't have anything written to hand, but wasn't there an agreement
between governments some decades ago about new rail projects being built
to a certain set of standards? IIRC, it was that, with a few exceptions,
all new rollingstock had to fit within the Australian standard loading
gauge and had to be at least capable of being converted to standard gauge.

Does anobody know any details about this? What was signed and when? How
binding was it? How would it affect the new private operators?

It stands to reason that a new operator would HAVE to build rollingstock
to fit within the standard loading gauge or it just couldn't run. The iron
ore railways may be a special case as they are completely self contained
and in an area with no other railways.

Cheers
David