High Speed and Fast Rail

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/883020800382582785

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/883020685525737473

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/InfraAust/status/883099913612967936

[Stillwater]

The dotted line in the image doesn't seem to go into Canberra.    The ACT is that white blob within NSW.

[ozbob]

A nation that is struggling to get suburban rail right and cannot effectively manage its energy supplies without bankrupting many ...

and the HS rail dream rolls on hey?

Rapid rail between Canberra and Sydney is a possibility with an upgraded track on the present ROW, and new trains that can travel faster safely on the existing improved alignment.  Apart from that it is all p%ssing in the wind IMHO.

https://twitter.com/workingdogprod/status/883136522756554752

[#Metro]

I'm happy to see the corridor protected - either by buying the land (costly) or placing a statutory regulation over the land in the corridor to

prevent development. The numbers may not work now, but who knows where the country will be in 50 or 100 years.

However, planes travel 2x faster than trains.

Focus needs to be on trains vs lanes rather than trains vs planes.

Cars are legally limited to 100 - 110 km/hr, and that is unlikely to change even with electric vehicles, automation, whatnot.

Victoria is the closest to this style of service with the 160 km/hr V/Locity sets.

Of course, money should be spent on fixing up the current network - DOO the train system or even automate it rather than spending it on

a hi-waste HSR proposal.

[Stillwater]

In 1995, Countrylink hired three X2000 tilt train cars from the Swedish State Railways (SJ) for testing and a trial public service to determine their suitablility for use in New South Wales.

After being test run on various lines, the set entered regular service between Sydney and Canberra from 23 April 1995 to 18 June 1995. The tilt train ran twice daily in each direction in addition to the regular Xplorer service (three times daily in each direction).

http://www.tomw.net.au/atmttrn1.html

[#Metro]

^^ Tilt trains are a good alternative worth exploring IMHO. Not as sexy but they might do the job.

[ozbob]

In 1995, Countrylink hired three X2000 tilt train cars from the Swedish State Railways (SJ) for testing and a trial public service to determine their suitablility for use in New South Wales.

After being test run on various lines, the set entered regular service between Sydney and Canberra from 23 April 1995 to 18 June 1995. The tilt train ran twice daily in each direction in addition to the regular Xplorer service (three times daily in each direction).

http://www.tomw.net.au/atmttrn1.html

The tilt cars came to Brisbane for a visit.  I recall taking my daughters to Roma St for a look.  There were big hopes that day ..

And hey, still hoping!   

[ozbob]

The Age --> Soothing mix for Australia's growing pains

Editorial

One of the greatest long-term challenges facing Australia is managing the balance between population growth and our capacity to build the necessary infrastructure.

The effects of failing to get this mix right are being felt in Australia's cities, particularly Melbourne and Sydney. Traffic congestion, crowded public transport, a lack of affordable housing, and insufficient amenities and services in the rapidly expanding urban fringes are diminishing the quality of life of many people.

Melbourne's trains threaten to become a squeeze as a report leaked to Fairfax Media reveals Metro's anxiety about the city's population growth and movement.

For example, traffic congestion is the biggest brake on Victoria's economy. As Australia's population has expanded at a historically high rate in the past decade, with immigration accounting for about two-thirds of the increase, public and private investment, although substantial, has failed to keep up. Transport issues have become among the nation's most economically and politically pressing.

Although the immediate problems centre on congestion, in the longer term more regional, interstate and international freight and passenger links will clearly be needed. A perennially discussed element has been a fast rail connection between Melbourne and Sydney, whose populations are forecast to double by about the middle of the century.

That rail link has been discussed for half a century, and projects have been knocked back by governments on cost grounds. But perhaps, finally, a tipping point has come. International experience shows the viability and desirability of fast rail between metropolises. Further, hefty, impetus has just come from Infrastructure Australia, which is warning that unless the land for the line is secured soon, it will be developed and would thus cost billions of dollars more to buy in only a handful of years. There are evident legal and practical restraints on locking up the land without properly compensating its owners, so a decision needs to be expedited.

Such decisions are about future generations. They will benefit mightily from infrastructure of all kinds, and so should contribute to the cost. There is a huge role here for government, because, as the Reserve Bank has pointed out, it can borrow cheaply, particularly with interest rates having been at historical lows for many months.

But there may be a role for private investment, too. There are proposals for a privately financed high-speed rail link between Melbourne and Sydney, and for a third international airport for Melbourne. Both projects are thought likely to be needed. The most pressing is the rail link, because of the threat of a prohibitively big land-cost rise and because of the size of the project.

Ultimately, Australia has much to gain from favouring a policy mix that promotes solid growth in population and investment in the assets that allow economies and communities to thrive.

[ozbob]

Canberratimes --> ACT government to stop developers using land on high speed rail corridor


The planned, and an alternative, route for high speed rail into Canberra.

Vast swathes of land in the ACT, earmarked for high speed rail tracks, are to be kept locked down and beyond the reach of housing developers, the ACT government says.

The declaration follows warnings on Friday that the rapid sprawl of housing on the fringes of Sydney and Melbourne threatens to blow the nation's chance of a very fast train network by building over vital corridors for the long-awaited transport project.
Government warned: act now on high-speed rail

After decades of discussion, Australia's infrastructure adviser says the government finally needs to take immediate action on a high-speed rail linking Melbourne and Sydney.

Infrastructure Australia published a report on Friday saying fast trains could be running between Canberra and Sydney as early as 2032 but warned the NSW and Victorian governments that they must act now to protect the rail corridor from the rapid sprawl on the edges of their capital cities.

In the ACT, where a very fast train has been seen since the 1980s as a potential economic game-changer for the territory's economy, the Labor government says the land needed for the Canberra leg of a high speed rail route is safely out of the clutches of the house builders.

A corridor of land stretching from Canberra Airport, the present preferred site for the end of the spur line that is envisaged running into the ACT, north to the NSW border and broadly following the route the Majura Parkway has been protected from development for some time, Chief Minister Andrew Barr's office said on Friday.

"The ACT government has been involved in the Intergovernmental Working Group on the project to protect the corridor and we have done our bit by ensuring that the land identified by the group would be available if and when the federal government decided to undertake the project," a spokesman for Mr Barr said.

While leases have been granted to landholders along the route, the territory government says the real estate can be made available quickly if a fast rail project gets moving.

Mr Barr's office also said the government was not content with a spur line to Canberra but was pushing for the capital to be part of the main line.

"More recently, the ACT government has been in discussions with the federal government on a number of variations to the project," the spokesman said.

"We have pushed the case that Canberra should not be on a 'spur line' to the main corridor between Sydney and Melbourne, but should be part of the main line.

"The ACT government has also been in discussions about changing the proposed corridor through the ACT, incorporating the Canberra stop at the airport rather than tunnelling through Mount Ainslie.

"We will continue to work with the federal government on these proposals."

Federal Labor MP for Canberra Gai Brodtmann also expressed her enthusiasm for the project on Friday.

"A study conducted by the former Labor government in 2013 found that high speed rail could carry 84 million passengers each year, with express journey times of just 64 minutes between Sydney and Canberra," Ms Brodtmann said.

"A high speed rail link would revolutionise interstate travel for Canberrans."

The Business Council of Australia urged state governments to heed the advice of Infrastructure Australia and get serious about setting land aside for big nation-building projects.

"This report demonstrates that if governments have the foresight to plan ahead and reserve corridors for future infrastructure use, they can realise huge savings when those infrastructure projects are ultimately rolled out," the council's chief executive Jennifer Westacott said on Friday.

[Stillwater]

Canberra Airport as focus for high speed rail in the ACT makes better sense.  All the infrastructure for the airport (road connections, taxi, bus etc) is there.  Maybe even Canberra Airport would hook up air-rail terminals.  Long-term I think they see possibility of charters flying in and passengers dispersing to other areas along the railway line.  I think there is a disused rail corridor from Queanbeyan to Cooma, although terrain is flatter via Yass/Gundagai.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/MelbUrbanist/status/884234479069413376

[#Metro]

There is a link to an older post by Alan Davies about HSR between Sydney and Newcastle.

It has similar arguments to my own - that the real focus should be trains vs lanes, not trains vs planes.

Does Labor's Sydney-Newcastle High Speed train make sense?
https://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurbanist/2010/08/05/does-labors-sydney-newcastle-high-speed-train-make-sense/

Second, the two cities are only around 150 km apart. Experience in Japan and Europe shows that HSR is very competitive over short distances. In these situations the on-ground travel to airports is usually a relatively high proportion of total trip time. And I doubt I'm the only one who doesn't feel completely relaxed in the sort of small turbo props operated by Aeropelican – a fast train would be a reassuringly attractive alternative.

Third, the East Coast Very High Speed Train Study concluded that the best prospects for HSR, both in demand and competitive terms, are shorter distance routes like Sydney–Newcastle, Sydney–South Coast, Sydney–Canberra, Brisbane–Gold Coast and Melbourne–Albury/Wodonga. Sydney-Newcastle is the busiest inter-urban corridor in the Sydney region.

Fourth, HSR would be competing primarily with cars rather than with existing public transport (as would be the case for a Sydney-Melbourne or Sydney-Brisbane line).

The other reason is this: shorter corridors are cheaper because the total cost is approximated by = length x unit cost.

[Stillwater]

^^But how many people would want to travel HSR between Melbourne and Albury only?  Versus Sydney-Melbourne with their huge population bases (and high incomes to pay the fares).  The average pensioner would take the slow train to Albury because of the scenery and the oldies discount, treat themselves once a year to the HSR equivalent.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/MetroReportInt/status/895191233349464066

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/900043324471390208

[#Metro]

China Turns to $503 Billion Rail Expansion to Boost Growth

China plans to spend 3.5 trillion yuan ($503 billion) to expand its railway system by 2020 as it turns to investments in infrastructure to bolster growth and improve connectivity across the country.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-29/china-to-have-30-000-kilometer-high-speed-rail-network-by-2020

Perspective: Spending of the entire Australian Government, including transfer payments to state and territory governments is in the order
of $450 billion per year.

[ozbob]

The Economist --> China's high-speed trains are back on track

CHINA'S high-speed rail system, just a decade old, is now one of the biggest infrastructure projects in history. The government in Beijing has spent an estimated 2.4trn yuan ($360bn) building 22,000km (13,670 miles) of high-speed rail lines, more than the rest of the world combined. This month, six years after a maximum speed limit was lowered following a deadly crash, China's trains are getting ready to accelerate.

China's path from railway laggard to leader has been bumpy. In 2011 the head of the country's railways ministry was sacked for his role in a massive bribery scandal. Months later, two high-speed trains collided near the eastern city of Wenzhou, killing 40 people and injuring some 200 more. In the wake of the deadly crash, Beijing temporarily halted new rail projects and reduced the maximum speed of its high-speed trains from 350kph to 300kph. The crash outraged many members of the Chinese public, as did the government's censorship of critical media coverage of the accident. Some internet users began referring to the high-speed railway line, called Hexie or "harmony", as Hexue or "drinking blood".

Today, Chinese high-speed rail appears to be back on track. The government's five-year plan calls for 3.5trn yuan in railway investment between 2016 and 2020. By then, if all goes to plan, the network will stretch 30,000km connecting more than 80% of the country's major cities. With ever more passengers riding the speedy trains, many of the rail lines are now profitable. Their international reputation has also improved. In 2014 a group of World Bank researchers lauded the country's trains as "world-class" and described the development of the railway network as "remarkable".

In yet another sign of China's confidence in its railways, on September 21st bullet trains traveling on the flagship Beijing-Shanghai line will once again whizz down the tracks at speeds of 350kph. The new trains, which can reach speeds of 400kph, will be branded with the word Fuxing or "rejuvenation".

[#Metro]

The government in Beijing has spent an estimated 2.4trn yuan ($360bn) building 22,000km (13,670 miles) of high-speed rail lines, more than the rest of the world combined.

There is a big push to build HSR in Australia for "national ego reasons", broadly defined as "Country X has it!, therefore we must have it too!".

Projects should be selected on merit, cost and benefit. Not a league table or the fact that "someone else has it".

China has 1.4 billion people. That's billions of taxpayers. The government also has powers to expedite land acquisition for corridors

and it is much easier to construct things there (cheap to manufacture things, cheap labour, different standards).

The Australian Government spends about $450 billion per year.* This is the same as $1.23 billion per day or $51 million per hour.


An Australian HSR system needs to be adapted to our needs. That means it should be directed at regional travel catchments (say 100-150 km

from any major capital city), and primarily serve daily commuter traffic, competing with cars on motorways, rather than planes in the sky.


Regional Fast Rail in Victoria is somewhat a model for this, albeit limited.

The Sydney - ACT/Canberra case is a borderline case, something that needs to be looked at in a deeper analysis.


* Budget figures. Includes transfer payments to States and Territories.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/RailExpressNews/status/905913622504685568

[ozbob]

Rail Express --> Labor introduces Brisbane-Melbourne high-speed rail bill to Senate

Labor has introduced a bill in the federal senate to establish a planning authority for a high-speed rail link connecting Brisbane with Melbourne via Sydney and Canberra.

The bill was presented to the senate by senator Don Farrell, and proposes to create an authority of 11 people representing state governments, the ARA, and rail industry and engineering experts.

This committee would be authorised to consider land use planning in a potential rail corridor, safety and environmental measures, public consultation, and the purchasing of the corridor itself.

Farrell noted that the same bill had been introduced to the House of Representatives in December 2013 and in October 2015, but said that it failed due to "lack of political will" from the coalition government.

"[A]t one stage it was literally the only piece of legislation before the House of Representatives," Farrell said.

"Yet the coalition showed no vision, despite the fact that people like former trade minister, Andrew Robb, have come out as strong supporters of high speed rail."

Labor's former transport minister, Anthony Albanese, has been a long-time supporter of high-speed rail, and commissioned a feasibility study (published in 2013) for a Brisbane to Melbourne corridor.

The study concluded that the rail line would produce $2.30 in public benefit for every dollar invested ($2.50 for the Sydney-Melbourne section), and that once fully operational, it would be able to carry 84 million passengers a year.

Farrell argued that action towards realising the project had to come soon if it were to meet its full potential.

"We can anticipate significant population growth over coming decades along the route of this proposed line," Farrell said.

"We can also anticipate that if we fail to act soon, delivery of high-speed rail will be made more difficult and costly because parts of the corridor will be built out by urban-sprawl."

An infrastructure Australia report last month stated that state governments had to purchase a corridor for a high-speed rail line between Sydney and Melbourne within 3 to 5 years, before the estimated cost of $720 million was pushed to unaffordable heights by rising property prices.

NSW's liberal premier herself has recently changed her tune on high-speed rail, telling a business audience in Tokyo last month that creation of a Sydney-Melbourne line was getting "closer and closer".

Albanese described the proposed Brisbane-Melbourne line as a "nation-building project in the national interest", and called on the senate to debate the bill introduced on Monday.

"High Speed Rail would allow people to travel between capital cities in as little as three hours," Albanese said.

"It would also turbo charge the economic development of the regional centres along its route, including the Gold Coast, Casino, Grafton, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Taree, Newcastle, the Central Coast, Southern Highlands, Wagga Wagga, Albury-Wodonga and Shepparton."

[Stillwater]

The latest SEQ Regional Plan is not long off the presses.  It is supposed to shape the region's future until 2040.  There is no mention of preserving a rail corridor for high-speed rail.

It is getting a little better now, but the state government fell into this trap often when it came to providing schools in a rapidly-expanding state.  Instead of looking forward to where it needed to buy land for schools at sheep paddock prices, the state waited until developers bought the sheep paddocks, had them rezoned for housing and started whole new suburbs, only to have the state government then scrambling to catch up and having to buy land for schools at inflated prices.

When it gets around to reserving land for HSR, Queensland will be resuming expensive parcels rather than plan now for where the route could go.

Even when we do have corridors reserved (Trouts Rd), there is not much planning going into them.  But we should be grateful we have that one reserved for future rail (not roads, hopefully).

[#Metro]

The study concluded that the rail line would produce $2.30 in public benefit for every dollar invested ($2.50 for the Sydney-Melbourne section), and that once fully operational, it would be able to carry 84 million passengers a year.

"public benefit"

You really have to wonder what the term means for this calculation. The draft alignments show that there are very few stations

(I think only on station on the Gold Coast, and one station in Brisbane). That means the passenger catchment will be extremely low

and it won't be attractive to regular commuters. It is trying to retrofit a solution into a problem that doesn't exist.


The problem we have isn't trains vs planes but trains vs lanes. Trains are too slow vs the car currently.

[Stillwater]

We don't know how the $2.30 public benefit for every $1 invested estimate was arrived at.  In the past, one or two private promoters of HSR between Sydney and Melbourne have sought concessions from governments to develop land along the route, including new towns.  In other words, they were more property speculators than potential investors in a railway.

However, if we are to have a decentralised country and if we are to avoid major congestion in our cities, and if future generations of Australians are to have affordable housing, fast rail solutions must be developed within the next decade.  And that means planning must start now.

HSR between Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne opens up opportunities for the Southern Highlands to become an attractive area to live while working in the cities, or will allow jobs to migrate to that location around Mittagong and Goulburn.  Likewise, Wagga Wagga and Albury would grow as cities.  An alternative would be for state governments not to just plan dormitory suburbs for Brisbane at Flagstone etc, but to look to pinpoint 'growth cities' at a distance from Brisbane and link them via rail.  And that means places beyond the Gold Coast, but certainly Toowoomba.  Gympie-Rainbow Beach (north of Noosa) might be the site for a new city.

A new city centre is being developed for Maroochydore.  We are thinking in 'city-size' chunks -- a city the size of Gladstone at Caloundra South.  Each year in SEQ, we must plan to accommodate the population of a city the size of Wagga Wagga.  Well, should we be thinking about where we might plonk a Wagga Wagga or two on a greenfields site, and do that in conjunction with industry?  Relocate the Dept. of Agriculture to Toowoomba, Mine and Natural Resources to Rockhampton etc.  And put in rapid rail.

What this means is that the development of 'fast' rail, maybe not very rapid, should be a component of population settlement and town planning policies, not the political colour of the seat through which it might pass.

[ozbob]

Sent to all outlets:

20th November 2017

Hyperloop is Hype

Greetings,

In today's Courier-Mail Ultraspeed Australia has unveiled a concept for a national hyperloop system. RAIL Back on Track's position is crystal clear - we absolutely will not support the introduction or government expenditure of any funds on any experimental public transport technology without (a) a business case issued by Building Queensland, Infrastructure Australia or a similar economic assessment body, and (b) passing safety and real-world passenger service tests.

The hyperloop system has not carried any passengers anywhere in revenue service and is not even on the market for commercial sale. There are also serious engineering and physics objections to its claims (see below). For example, the speed of a vehicle is limited by the stop spacing, the more stops there are, the slower the service is, regardless of the vehicle's maximum speed. The fewer stations there are, the smaller the passenger catchment. The smaller the passenger catchment, the more uneconomic it is.

Claims that hyperloop could travel in 10 minutes between the Gold Coast and Brisbane are unsound and unproven. Hyperloop in Queensland is right up there with teleportation, flying cars or passengers commuting daily in Concorde supersonic jets from Brisbane Airport to Coolangatta Airport.

Frankly, media outlets and politicians should give the hyperloop hype a rest. A moment's researching will bring up serious problems with the technology. It is unsound and is never going to happen in South East Queensland. The Queensland Government cannot even run our current bus and train network, so forget it!

Robert Dow
Administration
admin@backontrack.org
RAIL Back On Track https://backontrack.org

References:

Plan to build hyperloop for high-speed travel via inland route to Brisbane
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/plan-to-build-hyperloop-for-highspeed-travel-via-inland-route-to-brisbane/news-story/c8f1d7b38a5c94df48a15bc27d7d96c9

Entire Hyperloop could be destroyed in SECONDS!

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/932287156143267841

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/932295993567019008

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/aquilanebula/status/953673432335400961

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/996081244080193536

[ozbob]

The Conversation --> Let's get moving with the affordable medium-speed alternatives to the old dream of high-speed rail

More than half a century has passed since high-speed rail (HSR) effectively began operating, in Japan in 1964, and it has been mooted for Australia since 1984. I estimate that the cost of all HSR studies by the private and public sectors in Australia exceeds $125 million, in today's dollars. But the federal government is now less interested in high-speed rail (now defined as electric trains operating on steel rails at maximum speeds of above 250km per hour), and instead favours "faster rail" or medium-speed rail.

The 2017 federal budget provided $20 billion over the next 10 years for rail, with more allocated in the 2018 budget. It is now time for Australia to commit to medium-speed rail (trains operating on new or existing tracks at speeds of between 160km and 250km/h).

Indeed, three states have made progress in developing trains at 160km/h, with Victoria leading the way. New South Wales has failed to keep up with these states.

What happened to high-speed rail in Australia?

The first high-speed rail system dates back to 1964 when the Tokaido Shinkansen started operating between Tokyo and Osaka. At first, it took four hours to travel 515 kilometres; now some trains take two-and-a-half hours. Japan's system has an impeccable safety record and the network extends for over 3,000km.

France was next in 1981 with its TGV trains. In 1984, high-speed rail was first proposed for Australia. This was the CSIRO's Very Fast Train proposal to link Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne using TGV trains.

At all levels, government was not supportive. The private sector, after a series of studies, found it was viable and could work with different taxation arrangements. This was not forthcoming and work stopped in 1991.

A more modest proposal, called Speedrail, to connect Sydney and Canberra was proposed in the mid-1990s. With some federal government encouragement, it was studied, with detailed design. It was costed at about $4.5 billion, with finance arranged for some $3.5 billion. The Howard government would not fund the balance and commissioned yet another HSR study.

More studies have followed. One study in 2013 put a price tag of $23 billion on a Sydney-Canberra line involving much tunnelling in Sydney. This was part of a 1,750km high-speed rail corridor linking Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne. The total estimated cost was A$114 billion.

Despite many studies recommending the need to identify and protect a corridor for a future high-speed rail network, government has failed to reserve any land corridors (with the exception of part of a future Melbourne outer metropolitan ring road).
What about the alternatives?

Many countries do not have high-speed rail, but have medium-speed rail (MSR) instead. These countries include Sweden, Switzerland, the United States and Canada.

Three Australian states have trains operating at 160km/h. These are Queensland, starting in 1998 with its Electric Tilt Train service between Brisbane and Rockhampton, Victoria, with its Regional Fast Rail project using V/Locity diesel multiple units, and Western Australia, with the Prospector train.

Victoria's service originated in 1999 when the then Labor opposition promised a new deal for regional Victoria, which included new trains and upgraded tracks on four lines to Bendigo, Ballarat, Geelong and Gippsland. The ALP won government that year. By 2006 the track upgrades were delivered along with new trains made in Victoria.

People liked the faster trains. Patronage went up by more than 15% in each of the first three years of operation. More trains were ordered and further major track upgrades followed.

Victoria was assisted by $3 billion in federal funding for a Regional Rail Link program. This was to provide new intercity tracks in Melbourne so suburban trains did not slow down regional trains.

Due to good ongoing planning attracting more federal funding, further track upgrades are under way. The 2017 Victorian Infrastructure Plan outlines priorities and funding for projects over the next five years, with longer-term policy directions.
So what's going on in NSW?

Questions are now being asked as to why Victoria and WA are doing do well with federal funding for passenger rail at the expense of NSW.

The rail situation in Australia's most populated state is not good for its regions. By far the most NSW government attention and funding has gone into the Greater Sydney region.

Between the 2011 and the 2016 Censuses, Greater Sydney's population (including Gosford) grew some 10% from 4.39 to 4.82 million. Rail patronage on the Sydney and intercity network had even stronger growth of some 15% from 2011 to 2016.

To try to cope with this increasing demand for rail a new Metro section is due to be completed in 2019. Light rail is also being introduced in Sydney, Newcastle and Parramatta.

Sydney continues to have serious road traffic problems, which are unlikely to be solved by WestConnex Stages 1 and 2 that are now under construction. The proposed Stage 3 received over 7,000 objections, including a sensible alternative proposal by the City of Sydney, but the NSW government has approved Stage 3 and even more motorways. This is despite overseas experience for cities the size of Sydney pointing to the best solution being a much-improved rail system with road congestion pricing.

Regional NSW is also growing in population, albeit not as quickly as Sydney. In spring 2017, Transport for NSW released a draft regional servicea and infrastructure plan not for the next five years, but out to 2056. However, these plans were very vague as to what may be delivered in the next five or even ten years.

The plans also omitted earlier Infrastructure NSW goals for Sydney-Gosford and Sydney-Wollongong trains to take one hours (instead of one-and-a-half) and Sydney-Newcastle trains to take two hours. In addition, there are calls for more and faster trains linking to each of Goulburn/Canberra and the Central West of NSW.

Clearly, NSW is facing major transport challenges to overcome rail infrastructure backlogs and meet the needs of a growing population.

The state government is getting new intercity electric trains and has committed to buying new regional trains. But it's yet to commit to track upgrades to help the new trains go faster than the present slow ones.

The NSW ALP opposition is also yet to present detailed policies of how it would meet the transport challenges in Sydney and in regional NSW.

The people of NSW must hope the state budget due June 19 and the opposition leader's reply will address these issues.

[Stillwater]

Is SEQ growing to such an extent, and in such a way, that fast rail is needed, and must be planned now, for Toowoomba, Beaudesert, Wide Bay etc.  And in conjunction with NSW, across the border to Byron Bay/Ballina?  A stand-alone division within a revamped public transport corporation, fully integrated?

[matlock]

Is SEQ growing to such an extent, and in such a way, that fast rail is needed, and must be planned now, for Toowoomba, Beaudesert, Wide Bay etc.  And in conjunction with NSW, across the border to Byron Bay/Ballina?  A stand-alone division within a revamped public transport corporation, fully integrated?

Not yet, but then again the Sydney Harbour Bridge was built to serve far more capacity than was obviously needed at the time. The important thing is that there was vision.

It's why I'm kind of disappointed that there isn't a third or fourth tunnel for CRR. Yes, it would be excessive, but it would be worth it to have the damn thing built before it is needed.

We need to get out of this cyclical pessimism. On this board especially there is a sense that HSR is unnecessary and doesn't serve our needs. The reality is that Japan didn't have the need for HSR in the 1960s either, but it was built and now it has utterly transformed the way Japan has developed since. Building HSR between the major centres is the only viable way we can start to unlock growth in regional areas, and it needed to happen yesterday. Instead we have urban centres which are breaking at the seams and regional centres stagnating.

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/998254597503311873

AFR --> Talgo tests Australian market for fast rail as Commonwealth eyes business cases

Spanish train maker Talgo is sending executives to Australia in June to pitch fast trains that could slash travel times between cities, including Sydney-Canberra, by around one-third on existing rail tracks.

Talgo wants to provide fast trains that travel at up to 200 kilometres per hour on regional Australian routes, arguing they could cut the travel time between Sydney and Canberra to less than three hours from the current travel time of around four-and-a-half hours.

The Spanish group has developed technology that allows trains to switch to tracks with different gauges without stopping. Some of its trains can also switch between diesel and electric power, which would suit Australian tracks that are only partially electrified.

Talgo, which makes its trains in Spain, the US and Kazakhstan, wanted to participate in a tender to replace the NSW regional rail fleet but didn't qualify, partially because it is not well-known in Australia, the company's Asia Pacific regional director Alejandro Gomez Perez told The Australian Financial Review in an interview at the company's headquarters on the outskirts of Madrid.

Talgo, which competes with Germany's Siemens, France's Alstom and rival Spanish manufacturer CAF – which is also pushing into the Australian market – does not have an office or permanent staff in Australia. But it wants to build up its profile, potentially by maintaining trains made by competitors, in the hope of finding partners to help it tender for future projects.

The federal government is providing $20 million to develop business cases for fast rail links on three routes: Sydney to Canberra, Melbourne to Greater Shepparton, and Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast.

However, Mr Perez said Talgo did not want to waste money tendering for contracts it was unlikely to win. "We don't know the market in Australia so we need to be cautious," he said.

Talgo executives are planning meetings with state governments next month in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, where the WA government has started the tender process to acquire 246 new rail cars for its Metronet network.

Putting fast trains on existing regional rail tracks in Australia is complicated by the presence of thousands of level crossings. Trains need to slow down when they go over crossings to reduce the risk of accidents with cars driving across rail tracks.

Fast trains that run directly between cities with only a few stops would also need to co-ordinate with slower passenger trains and freight trains, unless new track infrastructure is built.

However, governments and infrastructure operators are investigating all options for improving transport links between cities to encourage economic development and affordable housing outside major urban centres.

Simon Ormsby, head of strategy at the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), said the rail group – which manages 8500 kilometres of track in Australia – was "very aware" of the demands that growing cities would place on freight and passenger rail services.

"We're keen to explore innovative solutions that will enable better use of the rail system to meet freight and passenger customer needs," Mr Ormsby said.

Talgo wants local governments to become familiar with its brand so that it is positioned to bid for very high speed trains, which can reach up to 350 kilometres per hour, if Australia ever decides to build high-speed rail links.

But the company does not believe high-speed trains will be adopted in the near term in Australia, Mr Perez said.

Talgo is leading a project backed by the European Union to examine how composite materials used in the aerospace industry could be used to reduce the weight of trains, lowering energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

The writer was a guest of the Spain Australia Council Foundation

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/998255222773317634

[ozbob]

Daily Telegraph --> High-speed rail and 30 minute trips at heart of Sydney 'megacity' proposal

A MAGIC bullet to solve Sydney's growing pains by turning it into a "megacity" stretching from Newcastle to Nowra — all linked by high-speed rail — is set to be the centrepiece of a radical new proposal.

Bennelong Liberal MP John Alexander has lifted the lid on likely "strategic decentralisation" recommendations to come out of a federal infrastructure and better cities parliamentary inquiry he has been leading since the 2016 election.

The report — due out by mid-year — is expected to call for the creation of an agency and commissioner to oversee a "proper national plan of settlement" and put an end to 45 years of empty promises about high-speed rail in Australia.

In an exclusive and wideranging interview, Mr Alexander yesterday attacked state and federal governments "of all persuasions" for decades of planning "failures" as Sydneysiders battle "ridiculous congestion".

"We have never had a plan of settlement and it's absurd," said the Australian Davis Cup tennis great, who was a victim of the dual citizenship fiasco last year before winning his seat back at a by-election in December.

"We have this massive imbalance where Sydney has the second-most expensive real estate in the world, ridiculous congestion and no planning of the city.

"Yes, we've got to play catch-up — but let's take a pause here and plan Sydney properly."

The Greater Sydney Commission has already proposed a "30-minute, three-city metropolis" for Sydney by 2056.

However, the Federal Government — which allocated $20 million in last year's budget to investigate a business case for faster rail in Australia — could take "liveability" to a whole new level if it adopts the looming recommendations.

The inquiry has heard evidence by Korean, Chinese and Japanese high-speed rail operators that trips from Newcastle, Goulburn and Nowra to Homebush — which would become Sydney's terminus — could take just 30 minutes.

And a journey from Gosford and Wollongong to Homebush would be only 15-17 minutes, five times faster than it is now.

"When you take in Nowra, Goulburn, Southern Highlands, Wollongong, the Central Coast, Newcastle and Maitland (with Sydney), it's like a 10-city city," Mr Alexander said.

"And if you can go (between all these locations) in such a short space of time, you've just leveraged it into a megacity."

The three overseas operators have told the inquiry that a new high-speed rail network on the east coast could be up and running within the next five years.

"The Japanese say it'll take two years to do the engineering and three-to four years to build the Sydney to Melbourne line," Mr Alexander said.

"The current fastest high-speed train is in Korea at 430km/h and operates at about 370, compared to about 300 in Japan.

"The Koreans see under this technology it getting up to 500. And that would make a Sydney to Melbourne trip take less than two hours."

LAND OF OPPORTUNITY

LATEST estimates put the cost of building the Sydney to Melbourne high-speed rail network at $50 billion.

However, Mr Alexander says this would be paid for — and more — by a 'value capture' model, which uses an increase in land values to fund infrastructure.

"If you announce this tomorrow and say here's the zoning around Homebush Bay and where the first stop is going to be heading south around Southern Highlands and Goulburn, then speculators are not just speculating in the dark anymore," he said.

"They know where the infrastructure is going, when it's going in, and they've got their zoning.

"So the farmer will sell his or her farm for 100 or 1000 times the value right way, and those funds value captured are then quarantined (for the building of the rail network).

"You've only got to create 50,000 dwellings a year in the corridor between Sydney and Melbourne for 10 years and that raises the $50 billion."

'COMPELLING EVIDENCE'

Mr Alexander said his multi-party committee had heard "compelling evidence" from Gary Fisher, the head of Hitachi Consulting Australia which builds the signalling systems and rolling stock for high-speed rail in Japan.

"Gary said there's nowhere else in the world, because of the extraordinary value of land in Sydney and Melbourne, and the relative price of land in the corridor in between, where value capture could entirely fund high-speed rail," he said.

"If we can get our densification and infrastructure right within our cities and have a plan of strategic decentralisation, we could actually create a megacity of Sydney where we have more people with access to the Sydney CBD than any other CBD in the world."

'NO REAL PLAN' ON IMMIGRATION

JOHN Alexander has taken a swipe at his own government for having "no real plan" on how to "properly" accommodate Australia's migrant intake.

He sees the hot-button immigration issue as inextricably linked to his push for a national plan of settlement.

"This is an issue where politics comes in and reason leaves the room," Mr Alexander said.

"One group says we've got to get rid of (immigration), which is really popular because people in Sydney think we're being crowded out.

"But if you just think about it for a while, the obvious answer is, you have to have a plan to accommodate any rate of immigration and provide jobs.

"So until you have that plan, you can't say any number is correct or incorrect."

He said current immigration levels were "pushing the limit" — but that's because "we have no real plan".

He called on his government to consider creating a "Reserve Bank-style" body which regularly monitors immigration levels.

"When we talk about creating affordable housing for generations to come, it actually creates a plan to accelerate immigration," Mr Alexander said.

"But it has to be in line with our capacity to house and provide work for these people.

"It's not about the maximum number; it's the optimum number (of migrants)."

NEED FOR ANOTHER 'BIG THINKER'

THE last true visionary for Sydney was Harbour Bridge designer Dr John Bradfield, according to John Alexander.

"He was the last really big thinker for Sydney; a visionary of planning," the Bennelong MP said.

"If we had the chance to build the Harbour Bridge again, we wouldn't build it.

"And if you look at the history of the Harbour Bridge, it was funded by value capture ... by those who had uplifted property values on the northern side, and it was promised 100 years before it was actually opened (on March 19, 1932).

"And the eastern suburbs railway line was promised by a government coming into power nearly 100 years before it was opened (on June 23, 1979)."

Mr Alexander — who is chair of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities — said it was high time all governments "climbed on board" to make faster trains a reality for long-suffering Australians.

"High-speed rail has been talked about since the Whitlam years (in the mid-1970s)," he said.

"We need to stop the procrastination and give autonomy to our planning agencies and get politics out of it."

[verbatim9]

VFR Very fast rail to link Gold Coast, Brisbane, Bundaberg, and Sunshine coast to the new mega Se Qld City of Alpha Centauri

https://youtu.be/FmOZeamZ-L4

[ozbob]

^ thanks for posting this.  Interesting ... 

[verbatim9]

A new mega city is inevitable in Se Qld connected with Fast Rail. But hoping Toowoomba will be connected with Electrified Fast Rail prior to any new city getting built. I do also like the concept of a car free city as depicted. The video is full of enthusiasm and is very optimistic about the future. See what happens?

[ozbob]

https://twitter.com/Robert_Dow/status/1042081490954149889

[verbatim9]

Upgrading of Cbr-Syd rail is well overdue. Currently on packed Murray's in bottlenecked M5 tunnel having paid $46 after finding a day ahead that the afternoon train is booked out again. Last long weekend all trains on Friday and Saturday were booked out days ahead. I got a seat on Saturday Murray's to find 9 am service was operated by 4 buses (carrying well over 200 people). Of course the highway was bumper to bumper too.

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/nsw-government-flags-funding-for-canberra-sydney-fast-train-20181025-p50c0p.html

The NSW government has marked the long-awaited rail upgrade among several regional infrastructure projects set to receive cash from a fund created after the federal government bought the state's share of the hydroelectricity scheme.

^^Will these upgrades include electrification? If and when electrification goes ahead? Will they build the system as the new standard 25KV AC or continue the Sydney system down to Canberra which is 1.5KV DC? If the  25KV is chosen a separate line is needed from Campbelltown to Central, otherwise dual voltage trains would need to be purchased.

^^The added advantage of having a fast train to Canberra is that Canberra Airport could expand their international routes acting as a third airport in the region. It can service SW Syd and regional towns inbweeen without the need of travelling to Mascot for an international flight. It would also increase competition for landing fees between the three airports Syd, Badgerys Creek and Cbr. A "win win" situation for Airlines and passengers alike.