There’s a new RMTransit (@RM_Transit) video up about high-speed rail from Melbourne to Sydney.
It’s definitely worth checking out. Reece makes the case that more overnight sleeper services and electrification are an important first step: https://youtu.be/IMUcV_nxsWY?si=8reQjPjsrwVTcecx
My two cents on the topic is that HSR from Melbourne to Sydney should implemented as a series of incremental upgrades, rather than a single megaproject.
Between the 1970s and 2010s, the Hume Highway between Melbourne and Sydney was incrementally upgraded to a freeway-standard continuous dual carriageway road: https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/operations/roads-and-waterways/environment-and-heritage/heritage/hume-highway-duplication/history
It wasn’t done as single megaproject. Instead, it was done in small segments. A bypass around a town. A section of road between two town upgraded to dual carriageway. Eventually, over 40 years, the whole road was upgraded.
We should be doing the same thing with the train line from Melbourne to Sydney.
Not as a multi-billion-dollar megaproject, but as a series of discrete projects to upgrade sections of track to electrified HSR standard: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/24/start-building-now-to-fulfil-sydney-melbourne-high-speed-rail-ambition-labor-urged
That means faster train journeys from Melbourne to Sydney today, with full HSR rolled out incrementally over the longer term.
Very rarely do I have a positive view on posts in this com, but this is a rare exception.
No mindless, pointless, circle jerk hating, but rather a positive and legitimate wish and view toward an alternative.
People can hate on cars so they want, but since people and places end up making cars nesecary.
Earlier this year I needed to go Melbourne to Albury, usually a trip done in a car, but this time I had use of a car at the other end so I took the train. Was a fantastic trip. Access to a small food bar, toilets, the occasional stop at more significant towns.
Trains kick ass.
I’d love to see a better in town solution for transport, buses and whatever both in Albury and my home town aren’t really up to scratch yet.