Upgrades to the Sydney-Melbourne railway that slash the journey from 11 hours to six within a few years could be “transformative” for regional Australia, says the federal opposition. It is urging the Albanese government not to let ambitions for a decades-long high-speed rail project get in the way of more immediate upgrades.
The Coalition’s transport spokesperson, Bridget McKenzie, told Guardian Australia she believed sections of the existing track “have significant but eminently fixable impediments to a faster route” – including a key stretch between Goulburn and Junee in New South Wales – and heralded the economic and emissions benefits an upgraded track could bring.
The Nationals senator’s comments follow Guardian Australia’s reporting of a substantial upgrade plan presented to the Ausrail annual conference this month, amid record high domestic air fares that have seen Australians rush to cheaper interstate train travel. Patronage has more than doubled in recent months and services between Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are routinely booked to capacity.
While a high-speed rail line would take decades to build, laying just 200km of straighter track to replace an existing 250km stretch of steam-age alignment would deliver a quicker service within four years, according to Wollongong University associate professor Philip Laird.
Laird’s proposal would also require three major track deviations to be built in NSW, between Glenlee and Mittagong, Goulburn and Yass, and Bowning and Cootamundra – and would come at a fraction of the cost of building a new high-speed rail line.
The proposal would reduce the length of the Sydney to Melbourne railway from about 960km to 900km. Crucially, a track upgraded to modern engineering standards could benefit from tilting trains – which can travel through curved sections at higher speeds than the current XPT rolling stock.
Tilt trains could travel at 170kmh – less than the 200kmh considered to be “high speed” – and make the journey between Sydney and Melbourne in about six hours, Laird says, almost half the time it takes the decades-old XPT trains. He points to similar rail upgrades that improved services between Brisbane and Rockhampton, as well as earlier upgrades in Western Australia. Other rail experts have backed the plan’s estimates.
Following decades of inaction that has plagued Australia’s interstate rail lines, Anthony Albanese has talked up his ambitions for high-speed rail. Ahead of the May federal election, he pledged $500m for early stage works on the Sydney-Newcastle corridor, and in November, the government passed legislation towards establishing its promised high-speed rail authority.
However, McKenzie believes upgrading existing lines can bring more immediate benefits.
“While very fast trains has great appeal, the reality is that it is decades away from being built – even if governments were to get serious about it. In the meantime, there is so much we can be doing to improve existing lines that could decrease journey times significantly,” she said.
“An ambition for high-speed rail in Australia should not come at the cost of our continued investment strategy into existing rail networks, including the Melbourne to Sydney route.
“High-speed rail also primarily improves connections to capital and regional cities that are already linked by fast air services. We also need to start to think about more efficient rail connections between regional cities – say between Albury and Wagga Wagga that could be transformative for both regional centres,” McKenzie said, referencing the key regional stops proposed by Laird.
In response to questions from Guardian Australia, a spokesperson for the transport minister, Catherine King, did not comment specifically on the proposal to upgrade the Sydney-Melbourne track.
King’s spokesperson said that in addition to leading the delivery of an east coast high-speed rail system, the government’s planned new high-speed authority “will work closely with state and territory governments on rail investment opportunities that reduce travel times and improve reliability”.
“The Australian government is committed to supporting economic growth and social opportunity through faster rail connections between major capital cities and growing regional centres,” the spokesperson said.
The faster service proposed by Laird would only make a handful of stops at regional centres such as Albury and Wagga Wagga, as opposed to the more than 10 stops currently. Laird touts the emissions and environmental benefits of taking more travellers and, crucially, freight operations off the roads and out of the air and into faster trains.
Laird has estimated his plan would only cost “in the billions of dollars, not tens of billions” required for high-speed rail projects, and could be running within four years, even with current construction constraints and costs. However, governments would need to quickly embrace the plan.
