Senator for South Australia, Don Farrell, introduced a bill in the federal senate on the establishment of a planning authority for the high-speed rail link between Brisbane and Melbourne via Sydney and Canberra.
Under the proposal, the authority will be formed by 11 people, representing state governments, the ARA, and rail industry and engineering experts.
This committee would be authorised to consider land use planning in a potential rail corridor, safety and environmental measures, public consultation, and the purchasing of the corridor itself.
The study concluded that the rail line would produce AUD 2.30 in public benefit for every dollar invested (AUD 2.50 for the Sydney-Melbourne section), and that once fully operational, it would be able to carry 84 million passengers a year.
Farrell argued that action towards realising the project had to come soon if it were to meet its full potential. “We can anticipate significant population growth over coming decades along the route of this proposed line,” Farrell said.
An infrastructure Australia report last month stated that state governments would have 3 to 5 years to purchase a corridor for a high-speed rail line between Sydney and Melbourne before the current estimated cost of AUD 720 million (USD 584.7 million6) was pushed to unaffordable heights by rising property prices.
According to the latest report on the project, the HSR network would comprise approximately 1,748 km of dedicated route between Brisbane-Sydney-Canberra-Melbourne. Once fully operational, from 2065, the HSR could carry approximately 84 million passengers each year.
The estimated cost of constructing the preferred HSR alignment in its entirety would be around AUD 114 billion (USD 92.58 billion).
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