High-speed train could cut Melbourne-Sydney journey time to under three hours
The current route takes 11 hours
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Your support makes all the difference.A high-speed train between Melbourne and Sydney in Australia could slash the journey time from 11 hours to under three.
The idea is being touted by Shadow Minister for Transport, Cities and Regional Development, Anthony Albanese, who said a 350kph service would be “nation-building”.
“It is appalling that it takes longer today to travel by rail to Newcastle from Sydney and the other way around than it did 50 years ago,” he said during an interview with 2HD Newcastle.
“In my view, we should bite the bullet and go for a high speed rail connection not just through to Sydney but right through to Melbourne and then north to Brisbane.”
He said that a route along the corridor between Melbourne and Newcastle would make the most sense, adding, “It would be a real game changer. It is expensive, but nation-building requires vision.”
Albanese proposed a bill to create a High-Speed Rail Authority, whose object would be to work on plans for a high speed rail line, in October last year.
“The benefits are not just in reducing travel times between Sydney and Melbourne and Sydney and Brisbane to under three hours; the big benefit is that this is a decentralisation plan,” he told parliament.
“This is about turbocharging those regional economies. It would, of course, provide significant jobs during construction, but it also would provide a significant economic boost in the medium and long term, particularly for regional Australia.”
The introduction of a high-speed rail line has been mooted by every Australian government since the 1980s, but nothing has ever moved beyond the planning stages.
The east coast corridor from Melbourne to Sydney, Australia’s two largest cities, has been the most commonly suggested route. It’s the world’s second busiest corridor for air travel, with more than 9 million passengers flying the route in 2017.
A high-speed link would cut the 850km journey time to two hours and 44 minutes.
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