High Speed Rail boss pushes case, says ‘doing nothing’ no option
A high-speed rail line between Melbourne and Brisbane would cost more than the federal government’s last official estimate of $114 billion, High Speed Rail Authority interim chief executive Andrew Hyles says.
“We haven’t sat down and calculated what it would cost now,” he told The Australian Financial Review Infrastructure Summit. “Realistically, today it would be higher” than the 2013 estimate, Mr Hyles added.
Andrew Hyles is the acting chief executive of the High Speed Rail Authority. Michael Quelch
Similar projects overseas have cost $100 million to $200 million a kilometre, he said. Given the distance between Melbourne and Brisbane is around 1800 kilometres, the figures imply a cost of $180 billion to $360 billion.
Mr Hyles used his comments on Monday to make a pitch for the much-criticised, decades-old idea, which has received $500 million from Labor to begin preliminary work. Although the rail line is meant to offer an alternative to interstate air travel, Mr Hyles mostly spoke about the importance of improving the connection between Sydney and Newcastle.
A budget for the project is due by 2026.
The existing rail line, which was designed in the 1800s, is operating at maximum capacity, and travel takes two-and-a-half hours between the cities. A new, high-speed line would take trains 45 to 50 minutes to travel between NSW’s two largest cities, he said, freeing up space on the existing line and attracting commuters who don’t travel by train now.
“Doing nothing on that corridor is not an option,” he said. “The largest passenger train volume in Australia is on this route.”
A NSW intercity train approaches Hawkesbury River Station. BeyondImages
Because the route is lined by nature reserves, hills and houses, it would
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