According to The Australian Financial Review, the decision would allow Premier Anna Bligh and Treasurer Andrew Fraser to save face with trade unions and fellow Labor MPs who are angry over asset sales, especially of Queensland Rail, and would avoid the risks of a public float later this year.

It would also relieve some of the pressure on Ms Bligh's leadership, which has been questioned after the Labor Party's dismal performance in Queensland in the federal election last Saturday where it stands to lose up to eight seats.

Before a caucus meeting this ­coming Monday – when Ms Bligh is expected to face down critics over her government's $16 billion privatisation program – a source close to the miners' consortium, the Queensland Coal ­Industry Rail Group, said the government had indicated it would keep the trains in public ­ownership if it decided to accept the miners' bid.