Aurizon Operations Ltd. (AUO) has a strong position in Australia's coal haulage markets and growing presence in bulk and containerized freight. We anticipate funds from operations to debt to trend at 41%-42% over the next two years. S&P Global Ratings has assigned its 'A-2' short-term issuer credit rating to (AUO) as the company has plans to issue short-term debt (commercial paper). At the same time, we affirmed our 'BBB+' long-term issuer and issue ratings on the company. The stable outlook on the long-term issuer rating reflects our expectation that AUO will, consistent with its policies, prudently balance shareholder returns while maintaining sufficient headroom in its credit metrics to weather unforeseen operational challenges. Coal volumes totaled 189 million tons (mt) for
