Originally known as Lachlan Valley Rail Freight (LVRF) the company changed names in 2007 to Independent Rail of Australia, commonly abbreviated to Independent Rail Australia or IRA.

IRA imported 16 second-hand MZ III class locomotives from Denmark, which were subsequently nicknamed "Helgas".

In June 2012 QUBE acquired IRA, and all IRA locomotives and rollingstock were incorporated into the QUBE fleet by the end of July 2012.