Government Signals Commitment to High-Speed Rail

Plans for a 250kmh bullet train connecting Melbourne to Sydney and Brisbane are moving ahead with the federal government establishing a high-speed rail authority.

The new statutory authority has been tasked with starting the major infrastructure project that, if realised, will deliver a fast train network connecting the eastern seaboard for the first time.

A board made up of rail and infrastructure sector experts will oversee the long-term project, which will provide independent advice to governments on planning and delivery. It will also be the lead agency to co-ordinate the project with the states and territories.

Transport minister Catherine King said the authority would work with consortiums collaboratively and with transparency to investigate alternate funding and financing opportunities including value uplift for the “important nation-building project”.

“There has been very little action to progress high speed rail in Australia, until now,” King said.

“This is a long-term project that will not only significantly reduce travel times but also unlock regional economies providing significant employment opportunities and supplying a remarkable economic boost in the medium and long term.”

The initial Newcastle-Sydney section will receive $500 million of federal government backing, as part of its first budget, for corridor planning and early works.

If realised, the Newcastle-to-Sydney stage will slash travel times from more than 2.5  hours to 45 minutes. Sydney to Gosford would take half an hour. 

▲ Transport minister Catherine King introduced the high-speed rail authority bill into federal parliament last week. It will return for debate at a time to be fixed.

The line would include stops on the Central Coast, Wyong and Gosford. It is expected to take eight years to construct at cost more than $20 billion.

The authority will also plan for fast trains connecting Brisbane and Melbourne with stops in Canberra, Sydney and regional centres. 

The entire 1750km railway project, which could potentially involve 15 years of planning and 30 years of construction, will cost north of $130 billion.

“It’s about actually what are the needs of our community, the way in which they’re going to be using transport, the way in which communities along the eastern seaboard are developing, not just in this term of government, but in the next 20, 30, 40 years,” King said.

“If we don’t start doing this now we will be well and truly left behind other nations in terms of high-speed rail.”

A fast Sydney-Melbourne link was first proposed by the science agency CSIRO in 1984.

In 2013, the then-Labor government commissioned a feasibility study of a high-speed rail line akin to those in Japan, Europe and, increasingly, China. It found that the high-speed rail would return $2.30 for every $1 of investment or a benefit-to-cost ratio of 2.3 to 1.

The study discounted future costs and benefits at a rate of 4 per cent a year, giving the project a major leg up compared to rival projects—a leg up that would not be permitted under current policy.

Without this leg up, the benefit-to-cost ratio was estimated to be just 1.1 to 1.

The push for high speed rail follows the former ­Coalition government’s mammoth infrastructure pipeline announced earlier this year which included $18 billion on 22 new and existing road and rail projects.

At the time the Coalition said its commitments would lift the ­nation’s total infrastructure ­investment pipeline to $250 billion over the four years to 2025. King is now closely reviewing all infrastructure commitments as part of the Labor government’s budget process.