This was published by the new High Speed Rail Authority a couple of days ago.
Current timeline –
The first leg planned is Newcastle-Central Coast-Sydney they are now commencing detailed design. It is scheduled to start construction in 2028 and be open by 2039. Ad additional section to the new Western Sydney Airport will be done by 2042.
Assuming that all goes well, the entire Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane route is intended to be completed by 2061.
Obviously this is still ages away and it will still take a lot of work and political will to get this done, but ultimately this project is really ambitious in scope and seems to be taking a healthy middle-of-the-road approach with regards to schedule and cost. If you move to quickly things get too expensive and political will dies, if you move too slowly you won’t be able to present results and again, political will dies. Ultimately the development of the Australian interior and the establishment of a well-linked urban corridor between Melbourne and Brisbane is the end-goal of Australian grand development policy since the end of the second world war. I also think this is interesting, coming from a non-Australian, in that Australia has both some of the worst and best geography for high-speed rail, so much of the Australian population lives on this particular line, but on the other hand, the country is so big that overland travel, both the construction of infrastructure and the use, is inherently difficult, expensive and time-consuming.
crivycouriac on
Doing a line to Perth would be splendiferous too
davedowling on
I am nearly 60 years old, and have been hearing about this concept for so many decades. I do not believe I will ever see a single track of high-speed rail being laid in Australia.
JohnnieTango on
2061 is a long time from now. Can’t they get this done any faster? I know its kind of unfair to compare anyone to the Chinese, but they put these things up a lot faster. I hope that they can do better at this than California.
Still not convinced that this is a good idea, but hey, it’s Australia’s money…
Trashy_Panda2 on
It makes so much sense for eastern Australia.
PrizeExisting4243 on
Why are there no sizeable cities in the south-eastern coast of Australia?
Loud_Industry_2044 on
Why would take that long?
theprez98 on
2061, just in time to beat California.
ProperPossibility378 on
Better idea: Turn the Ghan into a supersonic maglev and make Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin a single commuter corridor.
Simple_Emotion_3152 on
I am not familiar with Australia geography but why the area between Melbourne and Canberra is so empty?
17 Comments
This was published by the new High Speed Rail Authority a couple of days ago.
Current timeline –
The first leg planned is Newcastle-Central Coast-Sydney they are now commencing detailed design. It is scheduled to start construction in 2028 and be open by 2039. Ad additional section to the new Western Sydney Airport will be done by 2042.
Assuming that all goes well, the entire Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane route is intended to be completed by 2061.
Short 11 page summary here – https://media.caapp.com.au/pdf/xN8WsOMk7TgP/fbd41eea-23cd-44e4-9774-27d111134b7a/Newcastle%20to%20Sydney%20HSR%20Overview.pdf
Bigger 300 page business case here – https://media.caapp.com.au/pdf/j2IbcN94MVkB/4d2b42f4-a09d-457d-ae1d-cf7f8fe872e8/HSRA%20Newcastle%20to%20Sydney%20High%20Speed%20Rail%20Business%20Case%20FINAL_Redacted%202026.pdf
I’ve seen this in an Utopia episode.
Wagga Wagga mentioned!
Looks Like JapanÂ
This will be used as a reference point to what did not end up happening
Ah yes, the [Silver Emu](https://youtu.be/ZxZvpCSJxXA)
Adelaide: am I joke to you?
Obviously this is still ages away and it will still take a lot of work and political will to get this done, but ultimately this project is really ambitious in scope and seems to be taking a healthy middle-of-the-road approach with regards to schedule and cost. If you move to quickly things get too expensive and political will dies, if you move too slowly you won’t be able to present results and again, political will dies. Ultimately the development of the Australian interior and the establishment of a well-linked urban corridor between Melbourne and Brisbane is the end-goal of Australian grand development policy since the end of the second world war. I also think this is interesting, coming from a non-Australian, in that Australia has both some of the worst and best geography for high-speed rail, so much of the Australian population lives on this particular line, but on the other hand, the country is so big that overland travel, both the construction of infrastructure and the use, is inherently difficult, expensive and time-consuming.
Doing a line to Perth would be splendiferous too
I am nearly 60 years old, and have been hearing about this concept for so many decades. I do not believe I will ever see a single track of high-speed rail being laid in Australia.
2061 is a long time from now. Can’t they get this done any faster? I know its kind of unfair to compare anyone to the Chinese, but they put these things up a lot faster. I hope that they can do better at this than California.
Still not convinced that this is a good idea, but hey, it’s Australia’s money…
It makes so much sense for eastern Australia.
Why are there no sizeable cities in the south-eastern coast of Australia?
Why would take that long?
2061, just in time to beat California.
Better idea: Turn the Ghan into a supersonic maglev and make Adelaide, Alice Springs and Darwin a single commuter corridor.
I am not familiar with Australia geography but why the area between Melbourne and Canberra is so empty?