FED:High-speed rail for east coast cities

AAP General News (Australia)
08-05-2010
FED:High-speed rail for east coast cities

By Cathy Alexander

CANBERRA, Aug 5 AAP - A high-speed rail network on Australia's east coast could move
people faster than air travel on some routes.

Labor has promised up to $20 million for a feasibility study into a fast railway linking
Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

The study will focus particularly on the Sydney to Newcastle leg.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the study was part of her sustainable Australia approach
which would manage the stresses and strains of growth.

According to previous studies collated by Australia's rail Cooperative Research Centre,
a high-speed rail trip between Sydney and Canberra would take less than two and a half
hours.

That's faster than travelling by plane, taking into account check-in and commuting to airports.

The 300km/h rail trip from Sydney to Melbourne would take just under six hours, compared
with 10 hours in a car.

The train trip from Sydney to Brisbane would take five and a half hours.

High-speed rail would also produce less than a quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions of flying.

But there's a catch.

High-speed rail is expensive, costing up to $48 million per kilometre to build the
infrastructure.

Federal governments have considered high-speed rail since 1981, but the cost has stopped
them from going ahead.

One recent study estimated an east coast network would cost between $33 billion and $59 billion.

Ms Gillard rejected suggestions the rail study was aimed at pleasing the Australian
Greens, who appear likely to win the balance of power in the Senate at the August 21 poll.

The policy was "not about currying favour with any other political party", she told
ABC Radio on Thursday.

Greens leader Bob Brown said it was a "very pleasing day" and a breakthrough for his
party, which has been calling for a high-speed rail network.

He told reporters in Canberra the rail proposal had not been part of the preference-sharing
deal clinched between Labor and the Greens.

Senator Brown was optimistic the feasibility study could lead somewhere, unlike previous
studies, and was more than a fleeing election sweetener.

"It's the 21st century transport option of choice between big cities," he said.

AAP ca/rl/jl

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