The proposed sale of Queensland Rail National will proceed as planned, according to QR National chief executive Lance Hockridge, who added that the company's reputation alone has already attracted enormous investor interest in the share float.

Speaking before a breakfast meeting in Brisbane on Wednesday, Mr Hockridge said that the float, scheduled to be held later this year, has been developing as one of Australia's biggest market offerings in recent years as he stressed that "we've had a great deal of interaction with potential investors, retail investors of Australia, institutional investors in Australia and overseas."

The chief executive largely attributed the interest generated by the planned float on QR National's "great history and great reputation" as a company as he expressed confidence that the eventual sale would lead to benefits both for Queensland and the company's shareholders.

QR National conceded that public furore has been spawned by the announced privatisation but the company maintained that the sale would redound to more advantages for the state, telling ABC that "all of the opportunity that comes from privatisation, all of the growth opportunity that I've been talking about, this is really a very high quality opportunity."

The company operates freight services across five Australian states and mainly deals with hauling coal yields from productions sites to port areas for shipping to consumers in China, Japan and Korea.

The planned privatisation is one part of Premier Anna Bligh's asset sale program for Queensland with the float of the freight rail entity expected to fetch some $4 billion to $5 billion in capital as the current enterprise value of the company stands at $7 billion, with debts inclusive.

Following the float, Mr Hockridge said that the Queensland government is still set to retain up to 40 percent stake in the company, adding that a big week is ahead for the company and the state with Friday marking as the last for preregistration for bids on QR National shares.

Mr Hockridge acknowledged that the markets may have undergone an interesting period of time though he stressed that "all of the feedback that I'm getting is that there is what I call a flight to quality."