Australia's largest listed rail company was slapped with a "first strike" last year when almost 28 per cent of votes were cast against its executive-pay card following criticism from proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services and the Australian Shareholders Association.

However, ISS and fellow proxy adviser CGI Glass Lewis have urged institutional investors to vote in support of resolutions at Aurizon's annual meeting on November 12 in Perth, including the remuneration report and the re-election of chairman John Prescott.

The advisers have also said a vote should be cast against a board-spill resolution if one is called because they believe it would not be in shareholders' interests.

A company earns a strike if at least a quarter of votes are case against a remuneration report, while two strikes in a row triggers a vote on whether to spill the board.

The company formerly known as QR National has repeatedly copped criticism about its pay policy for executives since it was floated on the Australian Securities Exchange in late 2010.

However, ISS said in its latest report to clients that a vote in support of the remuneration report was warranted because Aurizon had made a number of changes since it was slapped with the "first strike" last year.

Since then, Aurizon has toughened its performance hurdles and targets for short- and long-term bonuses for its executives, and has created new employment contracts that the proxy advisers believe better define pay deals for executives when they depart the company prematurely.

The Australian Shareholders Association has yet to decide how it intends to vote proxies. Last year, it voted them against both the remuneration report and the grant of performance rights to chief executive Lance Hockridge, and called for Mr Prescott to resign as chairman due to concerns about the way he had handled executive pay.

The pay package for Mr Hockridge fell to $5.1 million last financial year, from $6.1 million a year earlier, due largely to a fall in his short-term cash bonus.

While it had concerns about Aurizon's remuneration last year, CGI said in its latest report that the company had addressed most of its concerns about Mr Hockridge's fixed pay, and performance hurdles for executive bonuses.

"We believe the company's remuneration report warrants shareholder support at this time," CGI said.

"That said, we will continue to monitor the company's use of underlying measures to assess performance across its incentive schemes, as well as any subsequent adjustments the board may make to the hurdles."