The Greens released a report this week claiming an east coast High Speed Rail line would deliver benefits of $48 billion. Trouble is, it would cost much more than this to build and would mainly benefit regional leisure travellers
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VERY FAST TRAIN
Do Tiger Airway's woes mean we need HSR?
I guess it was only a matter of time before someone would see Tiger Airway’s current troubles as evidence Australia needs High Speed Rail (HSR) between Sydney and Melbourne. That someone is a Mr Peter Appleton of Brown Hill, who wrote to The Age saying “with the halt of flights, we are back to Third World [...]
READ MOREIs High Speed Rail the new NBN?
The Federal Minister for Transport, Anthony Albanese, released the Terms of Reference on the weekend for the High Speed Rail (HSR) study promised during the election campaign. I’m very disappointed with Mr Albanese’s approach. He says the first phase of the study, which will be completed by July 2011, will: focus on identifying possible routes, corridor [...]
READ MOREHSR feasibility study: what should it address?
There’s a long history of rent-seeking in Australia over major projects. Business puts a lot of effort into lobbying government and the media to subsidise projects the private sector wouldn’t otherwise touch with a bargepole. So when IPA (Infrastructure Partnerships Australia) – the nation’s peak infrastructure lobby group – releases a new study calling for [...]
READ MOREWhat will high speed rail do for regional development?
There is very little evidence that high speed rail will enhance regional development
READ MOREHigh speed rail – are the Greens as shallow as the rest?
The Greens call for a high speed rail connection between Sydney and Melbourne is populism at its worst.
READ MOREForecasting patronage: it's easy, isn't it?
California’s High Speed Rail project provides another instance of the high level of risk involved in forecasting patronage
READ MOREThe VFT and Green's preferences
Gary Johns thinks the Very Fast Train might be the price the Government pays for Green preferences at the next Federal election
READ MOREHas the very fast train run out of steam?
The idea of very fast trains on the Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne corridor seems to have run out of steam after an initial flurry earlier this year when the CRC for Rail Innovation and the Greens both called on the Federal Government to fund a major concept study. There has been very little in the popular media since [...]
READ MOREDo the numbers support the Very Fast Train?
I’ve run some numbers on how a Very Fast Train in the Sydney-Melbourne corridor would stack up against planes in order to flesh out the questions I posed last week (Is the VFT all huff and no puff?). I used a simple “back of the envelope” methodology adapted from that used by Harvard’s Edward Glaeser [...]
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