Interstate rail travel

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/ozbob13/status/1597338685401231363

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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/29/australians-turn-to-interstate-train-travel-amid-soaring-domestic-air-fares-heading-into-holiday-peak

...Australians facing record high domestic air fares are opting for cheaper overnight trains and coaches to travel interstate, with patronage between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane more than doubling in recent months as services are booked to capacity.

Despite decades-old infrastructure on Australia's east coast that makes train journeys several hours longer than equivalent car trips, fresh ridership statistics have exposed the dramatic effect of the reduction in flights and soaring air fares on summer travel plans. ...

[ozbob]

The Southern Aurora 12th April 1962

[verbatim9]

Last time this happened when Tiger was grounded, forcing a lot of people to land based options, such as trains, buses  and cars to travel between the major cities on the East coast as well as Adelaide.

Despite talk on HSR, it's a pity they haven't electrified interstate train lines as yet. If they started to electrify 20 years ago with tunnels through the ranges, we would have many choices on how to travel between our cities.

[ozbob]

LinkedIn

[ozbob]

The Guardian --> Sydney-Melbourne railway could be affordably upgraded to slash travel times to six hours, expert says

The Sydney to Melbourne train journey could be slashed from 11 hours down to just six, and at a fraction of the cost of high-speed rail plans, if sections of the track were upgraded for medium-speed rail, a train expert says.

While a high-speed rail line would take decades to build, laying just 200km of new, straighter track to replace an existing 250km stretch of steam-age railway would deliver a quicker service within four years , according to Wollongong University associate professor Philip Laird.

Laird's proposal, presented to the Ausrail annual conference this month, would also require three major track deviations to be built in New South Wales, between Glenlee and Mittagong, Goulburn and Yass, and Bowning and Cootamundra.

The proposal would reduce the length of the Sydney to Melbourne railway from about 960km to 900km. Crucially, a track upgraded to modern engineering standards could benefit from tilting trains – which can travel through curved sections of the track at higher speeds where the current XPT rolling stock must slow down. ...

[#Metro]

This is a great idea, and because it can be done sooner and incrementally, it's high value 

Definitely very keen to hear more about this MSR proposal by Prof. Laird.

He was awarded an OAM for "Dr Philip Laird's OAM is for service to the rail freight and passenger transport Industry."

Philip Laird
https://theconversation.com/profiles/philip-laird-3503

[#Metro]

More than ever, it's time to upgrade the Sydney–Melbourne railway

Philip Laird Philip Laird is a Friend of The Conversation.
Honorary Principal Fellow, University of Wollongong

Published: August 4, 2022
https://theconversation.com/more-than-ever-its-time-to-upgrade-the-sydney-melbourne-railway-187169

...another former state rail chief, Ross Sayers, argued that a tilt train – a train designed to negotiate curves more quickly – could travel at more than 200 km per hour between Sydney and Melbourne on an upgraded alignment. "We could set the passenger transit time at five, or perhaps five and a half hours," he said. This is still a good, viable option.

Five and a half hours would be half the time the current XPT services take. And the gain isn't purely speculative: when Queensland straightened much of its track between Brisbane and Rockhampton for faster and heavier freight trains – and then, in 1998, introduced a new tilt train – passenger transit time halved from 14 to seven hours.

Fifty years ago, rail and road held roughly equal shares of the land freight moving between Sydney and Melbourne. Trucks took about 15 hours to traverse a two-lane Hume Highway that was poorly aligned in many places.

Mainly with funds from the federal government, the entire Hume Highway was subsequently rebuilt to modern engineering standards at a cost of about $20 billion in today's terms. Much larger trucks can now move freight between Sydney and Melbourne in ten hours.

[ozbob]

Border Mail (Albury) --> Rail thinker wants revolutionary thinking of 1930s to inspire better rail services between Sydney and Melbourne $

THE mindset which saw the ground-breaking Spirit of Progress train introduced is needed now to lift the Sydney to Melbourne railway.

That's the view of rail academic Philip Laird who says five deviations with the line could cut the travel time between the capitals from 11 hours to six. ...

[JimmyP]

The best part about that proposal is it doesn't preclude later investment in HSR in the future, as freight will benefit greatly from the reduced travel times also.
Might also increase patronage to a point where HSR is seen to be a logical next step by more people in the future too.