37 years since NSW was first promised high speed rail
The NSW government’s commitment to a fast rail network linking Sydney and Canberra marks 37 years since the idea was first conceived. Here are all the times Australians have been promised high speed trains on the east coast.
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It has been four decades and the people of NSW are still waiting for the train.
Today’s rail announcement from NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is the latest in a long history of promises to install high speed trains along the east coast.
While Japan has enjoyed fast rail since 1964, construction on a similar network in Australia is yet to happen, 37 years after it was first proposed.
The existing 300 kilometre train journey between Sydney and Canberra takes close to 4.5 hours and is not even officially medium speed (between 200-250 km/h). A rail network is considered high speed when electric trains reach speeds above 250km/h.
The Daily Telegraph looks back into the archives when the dream of futuristic Japanese-French inspired trains was conceived.
1981
The Institution of Engineers proposed the Bicentennial High Speed Railway Project, the first plan of its kind in Australia. The idea was to link the five southeastern capitals as a celebration of the bicentenary. Travel time between Melbourne and Sydney would be slashed to nine hours while Sydney to Canberra would take just three hours.
June 1984
Plans to develop a high speed network on the east coast were kicked up a gear when the CSIRO, headed up by Chairman Paul Wild, proposed fast rail between Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne based on French technology. The $2.5 billion project would have seen trains travelling at 350km/h with operating costs of $50 million per year.
September 1984
The federal Bureau of Transport Economics found the CSIRO scheme to be uneconomic and $1.5 billion off the mark, raising concerns passenger fares would not be commercially viable. The proposal was rejected by Transport Minister Peter Morris.
1986
Following the rejection of the CSIRO plan, Paul Wild created the Very Fast Train joint venture; a privately built and operated network. Its conception was the beginning of a six-year battle with federal, NSW, ACT and Victorian governments to implement high speed rail. A $600,000 pre-feasibility study of two routes, Sydney to Melbourne and Sydney to Canberra was commissioned.
July 1988
After the completion of a pre-feasibility study, the Very Fast Train official feasibility report began at a cost of $19 million. The project was expanded to Queensland a year later.
August 1991
The Very Fast Train scheme folded after Cabinet’s rejection of the joint venture’s proposals regarding tax deductions and suspicion the project was motivated by real estate development. The scheme was also considered to be lacking in focus and co-ordination.
1992
New Prime Minister Paul Keating allocated funding to upgrade conventional rail links in a move away from high speed rail plans.
1993
A new plan for high speed rail along the east coast emerged when the Speedrail group proposed a $2.4 billion Sydney to Canberra line which would cut travel time to 75 minutes and cost around $70 per fare.
1994
A feasibility study for Speedrail was jointly funded by the NSW and ACT with both governments contributing $100,000 while the Speedrail group contributed $250,000.
1996
The federal government invited the private sector to submit expressions of interest in developing high speed rail — four proposals were made.
1998
Prime Minister John Howard announced Speedrail had been invited to prepare a detailed bid which eventually cost the group $20 million.
2000
The federal government ended its relationship with Speedrail and began a commissioning process named East Coast High Speed Train Scoping Study. The report was released in 2001, but a high speed rail project never got the green light.
2008
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced intentions to build a $25 billion high speed network connecting Sydney and Melbourne, but the plan never went ahead.
2010-2013
In August 2010, Mr Rudd’s successor Julia Gillard and Transport Minister Anthony Albanese announced a $20 million high-speed rail implementation study to be undertaken by a High Speed Rail Advisory Group. Phase one, released in 2011, identified a short-list of station options and preliminary costs while a refined phase two report was released in 2013. The estimated construction costs totalled around $114 billion.
November 2013
The end of the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd government signalled the end of the High Speed Rail Advisory Group with new Prime Minister Tony Abbott ditching the program in an effort to cut government costs.
May 2017
Talk of high speed rail was revived in the 2017 Federal Budget with $20 million in funding announced to investigate how to improve rail between major cities and support the development of business submissions. These business cases are expected to be submitted by mid-2019.
December 2018
The NSW government committed $4.6 million to developing a fast rail network strategy to allow people to travel between Canberra and Sydney in as little as one hour.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced four routes are being examined for the network which would reduce travel time by up to 75 per cent.
Transport Minister Andrew Constance said a “faster rail” scheme — which would increase speeds to 200km/h and above, may need to be introduced before high speed rail is built.
The Premier insists the announcement is not an election stunt, despite almost four decades of assurances and false starts across state and federal government.
“We need to start the work now if we want to see fast rail in NSW,” she said.
“I am not going to wait for the other states and the federal government.”
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