A consortium of international and local investors, including General Electric, Japan Rail Central and Mitsui have already purchased more than 37,000 hectares of land between Sydney and Melbourne regarding the development of a high-speed rail link between the two cities.
Various studies and recommendations have asserted that a high-speed rail service between the major eastern capital cities could be viable as an alternative to air transport, Sydney – Melbourne being the world’s fifth busiest air corridor.
High speed rail has been widely debated in Australia for many decades. There have been numerous reports, proposals and investigations during this time, but none has progressed beyond the study stage.
As The Australian newspaper reported, government advisers are working on options to use value capture to pay for big-ticket infrastructure projects such as high-speed rail.
In April, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s proposal to use “value capture” to kickstart the decades-old dream of building a high-speed rail line along Australia’s eastern coast has been welcomed.
The rail link’s cost was estimated in the feasibility study between USD 84 and 114 billion.
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