High Speed Rail

Following multiple studies and years of debate, a 350km/hr High Speed Rail line is back on public and political agendas.

High Speed Rail is not another rail project. This is long-term nation-building project designed for the future landscape of Australia.

Australia’s rising population is overloading our cities, creating crippling congestion and increasing the demand on our transport systems.

If our cities come to a standstill, so too will our nation’s productivity.

Australia needs an improved transport system that provides for our future. One that connects the nation; opens up regional Australia; transforms the way people live, work and travel; and efficiently moves our growing population and freight around the country.

The Federal Government's Implementation Study

Through a two-phase implementation study, a 1,748 km preferred route (Melbourne – Brisbane) has been earmarked with four city centre stations, four city-peripheral stations (two in Sydney, one in Brisbane, one in Melbourne) and 12 regional stations.

Specifically, the following route has been proposed:

Stage one: Sydney, Southern Highlands, Canberra, Wagga Wagga, Albury Wodonga, Shepparton, Melbourne.

Stage two: Sydney, Central Coast, Newcastle, Taree, Port Macquarie, Coffs Harbour, Grafton, Casino, Gold Coast, Brisbane.

	HSR Routes
Line 1: Sydney - Melbourne	894km	2 hours 44 mins	18.76M people/yr
Stage 1: Sydney - Canberra	283km	64 mins	5.19M people/yr
Stage 2: Canberra - Melbourne	611km	2 hours 10 min	2.7M people/year
Line 2: Sydney - Brisbane	854km	2hrs 37 mins	10.86M people/yr
Stage 3: Sydney - Newcastle	134km	39 mins	4.75M people/yr
Stage 4: Brisbane - Gold Coast	115km	Not yet modelled	2.2M people/year
Stage 5: Brisbane - Newcastle	606km	2 hours 21mins	Not yet modelled

Competing with Air

Global experience shows that people will transfer from flying to high speed rail if the trip is shorter than three hours. Any longer than three hours and people will continue to fly.

As a result, the success of high speed rail along Australia’s East Coast relies on its ability to travel between capital cities in under 3 hours.

As per the above table, modelling shows that at speeds of 350km/hr, these travel times are achievable, thus confirming high speed rail’s suitability along Australia’s East Coast.

The key with high speed rail is that the travel is CBD to CBD, not airport to airport, further reducing travel time.

The Japanese Experience

With funding assistance from the World Bank, the Japanese began constructing its Shinkansen, or ‘’Bullet Train” in the 1950’s.

In 2014, the Shinkansen celebrated 50 years of operation. Today it
runs 323 trains per day at 3 min intervals during the peak
moves 386,000 passengers per day
zero injuries or fatalities
on time running record of 0.6 minutes (including the network downtime during the 2011 earthquake).

The Way Forward

High Speed Rail is a nation building project that will transform Australia and thus funding should be provided through a special allocation that does not affect existing or future transport funding. The ARA recommends that the route is finalised and preserved.