Government urged to hurry up and release high speed rail business case

It’s time to take the brakes off high speed rail between Sydney and Newcastle, say the opposition and business groups, with a top-secret report on the project yet to be publicly released.

Japan’s Shinkansen high speed bullet train.

The brakes need to be released on high speed rail between Sydney and Newcastle in this term of government, the opposition and business groups say, with a top-secret report on the project yet to be publicly released six months after it was finished.

A $78.8m business case by the High Speed Rail Authority was completed and handed over to Infrastructure Australia shortly before Christmas, with the body to make a recommendation on how or if the project would proceed.

Six months later, the government is still analysing the report, with no date on when it will be publicly released.

Gosford Erina Business Chamber president Peter Lawley said faster trains were key to unlocking $3 billion in private investment which has flooded into the Gosford CBD, as well as opening up Newcastle and Sydney as places of work for thousands of people moving to the Central Coast.

“Six months is far too long … that’s why we want to keep pushing,” Mr Lawley said.

“Everything’s going towards Western Sydney, and nothing comes to the Central Coast.”

The chamber will hold an event in August, which they’ve invited High Speed Rail Authority chiefs to speak at to update the business community on the proposal.

Mr Lawley said 3000 more residents were forecast to move into new homes in the Gosford CBD in the coming 18 months, highlighting how the booming region needed better transport links to Sydney.

“We need to keep things moving – the link between Sydney to Newcastle with a stop in Gosford is critical for business and the growth of the region. We have a lot of people commuting now,” he said.

“The growth of the Gosford CBD … in the next 18 months we expect 3,000 people to move into Gosford with the construction boom happening.”

Coalition transport spokeswoman Bridget McKenzie queried whether the high cost of the rail had resulted in the report being withheld.

The cost of upgrading to high speed rail is expecting to be at least $30 billion.

Senator Bridget McKenzie. Picture: Patrick Gee

“It has been six months since the Albanese Government received the business case for High Speed Rail,” she said.

“They chose to keep it under wraps before the election but there is no longer any excuse not to come clean on the cost of the project.”

A spokeswoman for federal Transport Minister Catherine King said the Albanese Government was committed to building the high speed rail, after already investing $500m to plan and protect a rail corridor.

“The business case to connect Newcastle to Sydney with high speed rail has been completed by the High Speed Rail Authority and has been submitted to the Australian Government for consideration,” she said.

“Infrastructure Australia are currently assessing the business case, and any funding decisions will be informed by this assessment.”

Originally published as Government urged to hurry up and release high speed rail business case