The federal government says it is committed to building high-speed rail from Newcastle to Sydney regardless of the price tag but will need input from the private sector.
Infrastructure and Transport Minister Catherine King revealed during a media conference in Newcastle on Tuesday that the government had brought forward the timetable for a business case on the Newcastle-Sydney leg of the high-speed rail network from 2026 to this year.
Ms King said at Newcastle Airport on Wednesday that the government was fast-tracking the business case "because we want to get this done".
"We are very serious about high-speed rail from Newcastle to Sydney," she said.
The project will cost tens of billions of dollars, and the Grattan Institute published a report in 2020 recommending that Australian governments abandon bullet trains because they are not financially viable in a nation with such a dispersed population.
Ms King said the government would have a better idea of the costs involved and financing options once the business case for the Newcastle-Sydney section was complete.
Asked if this meant the Labor government was committed to building the new dedicated line regardless of the expense, Ms King said: "The government is committed to building it.
"We obviously want to get the best value we possibly can.
"It's going to take private sector investment as well and we're looking at those financing mechanisms as part of the business case.
"There's a big piece of work to be done about the financing, but I am very confident that we will start to see significant work on this project under way once we have seen the business case."
The government has committed $500 million to planning and corridor works on the Newcastle-Sydney line, including $13.6 million allocated to the High Speed Rail Authority over the next three years.
A new dedicated high-speed rail line has the potential to cut travel times between Newcastle and Sydney from more than two-and-a-half hours to between 45 and 60 minutes.
Ms King would not be drawn on when work could start on building the line, telling ABC radio on Wednesday that she was "very cautious about putting a time frame on it until the experts have actually done their work".
Asked why the government had abandoned plans for faster conventional rail services between Newcastle and Sydney, she said they did not represent value for money.
"Faster rail in and of itself is a good idea, but it's also very expensive," she said.
"You spend a lot of money just to get an extra minute.
"You have to take all of the curves out, you have to change alignments, and it's incredibly costly.
"We think, if we're going to spend a lot of money, let's get this right and let's actually deliver something that will really change the whole way in which the economy of NSW, but particularly this part of the world, operates, and the opportunities for jobs for people to actually live, work here and then maybe commute into Sydney a couple of days a week if they've got meetings.
"But let's see if we can get more head offices out here in Newcastle."
The government has faced political pressure from the Coalition and Greens to speed up planning on the line.
Ms King told the airport media conference that the Opposition had done nothing to progress high-speed rail in the nine years it was in power.
"I guess the question for the naysayers in the Opposition is what are they going to do?" she said.
"The question for them is going to be are they going to can it if they go to the next election and win government?"
