Premier unveils plan for fast rail network in NSW
The state government has committed to building a fast rail network in NSW that would allow people to travel to Canberra from Sydney in as little as one hour. The network would reduce travel time by up to 75 per cent.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The state government has committed to building a fast rail network in NSW that would allow people to travel to Canberra from Sydney in as little as one hour.
There are four routes being examined for the proposed fast rail network which would reduce travel time by up to 75 per cent.
These routes are within 300km of Sydney and stretch to Canberra, Goulburn, Newcastle, Gosford, Wollongong and Nowra.
It currently takes just over four hours to travel by train to Canberra from Sydney but this would be slashed to one hour on high speed rail, which reaches speeds greater than 250km/h.
A trip to Goulburn, Gosford or Wollongong from Sydney would take just 30 minutes while it would be 45 minutes to Newcastle or Nowra.
MORE NEWS:
Woman’s underwear found in police dig for Belinda
Alex Turnbull’s disgusting attack on female journalist
Turnbull backs PM over leadership reforms
Transport Minister Andrew Constance said a “faster rail” scheme — which would increase speeds to at least 200km/h — may need to be introduced before “high speed” rail is built.
“In the immediate future, faster rail would see upgrades along existing rail alignments and provide services of at least 200km/h, slashing travel times by one third,” he said.
“Ultimately, in the long term, high speed rail would see the development of new alignments and lines, providing speeds of over 250km/h, with examples overseas travelling up to 350km/h and higher — giving the potential to cut travel times by up to 75 per cent.”
Under the “faster rail” scheme it would take three hours to travel from Sydney to Canberra while just 19 minutes would be slashed from travel time to Gosford.
Travel time to Wollongong would be reduced by 25 minutes, while it would be 39 minutes quicker to get to Nowra and 35 minutes quicker to Newcastle on faster rail.
It would take one hour and 45 minutes to travel to Goulburn from Sydney as opposed to the current two hours and 30 minutes.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced this morning her government would begin work to build a fast rail network in the next term of government with planning now underway.
Building a high speed rail network in Australia has been repeatedly proposed, debated and assessed but Ms Berejiklian said her government would see this latest iteration of the idea — which is the first to focus just on NSW — through to completion.
“In the past fast rail studies have looked at Queensland, Victoria and NSW connections. This is the first time we’re looking at this network in NSW. This is as much about growing our regions and giving people choice as it is about providing fast rail … to allow people to have choice in where they live, where they work, and to increase that choice. And you do that by having greater connectivity.”
The government has hired High Speed Rail Expert Professor Andrew McNaughton to advise on the routes, train speeds, station locations and when and where to begin building the network.
Prof McNaughton will also determine whether the government begins on faster rail or goes straight to high speed rail.
The government has committed $4.6 million from the Snowy Hydro fund to develop the fast rail strategy which is expected to take 12 months.
Previous proposals for high speed rail have been designed to connect Brisbane to Sydney and then to Melbourne but the ideas have been marred by state governments wanting their federal counterparts to chip in funding.
Ms Berejiklian said she wouldn’t wait any longer for the Commonwealth or other states to get on board.
“I’m not going to wait for the other states, and the federal government, we’ve waited too long. NSW will start the process, we’ll ensure we have a fast rail project in our state and it builds on the great work we’re doing already on building a new Metro system in our larger city so this is an extension of what we’re doing but at a much grander scale.”
Ms Berejiklian said the fast rail that is built in NSW could be linked to other state’s networks — if they ever build them.
“Of course if you build fast rail in NSW you can extend that to other states. If I waited for Queensland or Victoria or the federal government I’d be waiting for decades. We can’t afford to wait,” she said.
Ms Berejiklian said the fast rail network would “open up options” for where people can live and work.
The four routes identified are:
Northern Route including the Central Coast and Newcastle.
Southern Inland Route including Goulburn and Canberra.
Western Route including Lithgow, Bathurst and Orange / Parkes.
Southern Coastal Route including Wollongong and Nowra.
How did driver survive this horror Spit Bridge crash?
A smash between a truck and car sparked major delays on Spit Bridge. Their car crushed almost in half, the driver who had to be cut from the wreck, but somehow sustained only minor injuries.
Shocking video captures SUV narrowly missing child in crash
Shocking vision has captured an SUV crashing into a fence on a busy street in Sydney’s west where onlookers saw it narrowly avoiding a child.