High-Speed Rail from Adelaide to Melbourne To Improve Viability In South-Eastern Australia

We still have dreams. When we travel by plane from Federation Square in Melbourne to Victoria Square in Adelaide it takes, on good days, about four hours. Traveling is quite hectic, taking Taxi/Uber in busy areas, waiting for passenger screening, queuing at check-in, flying without speaking on the phone, waiting to collect luggage, etc.  Would there be an alternative? Over the past 30 years, high-speed rail (HSR) has emerged as an appealing alternative for transporting millions of people regularly, akin to utilising a subway for intra-city travel.

HSR is increasingly proving to be a formidable competitor to air transport, particularly for distances ranging from 200 to 900 km. Additionally, HSR mitigates issues related to missed connections or disruptions caused by adverse weather conditions that can plague air travel. Not only has it alleviated passenger congestion at airports. The HSR Melbourne-Adelaide corridor will connect around seven million people, in addition to the two metropolitan areas there are around ten towns in rural areas with between 5,000 and 120,000 inhabitants. Furthermore, HSR can be considered a critical infrastructure, offering significant economic, environmental and social benefits such as:

  • Stimulate economic growth
  • Reduce carbon emissions
  • Enhance connectivity
  • Facilitate travel

An expensive investment like this requires a public-private partnership (PPP). In the United States, for example, partnerships exist between large banks and federal and state governments. It will be an opportunity for multinational corporations involved in the high-speed rail (HSR) sector looking to invest in transport infrastructure in Victoria and South Australia. This could be a starting point that represents good practice in this country and in the future the HSR infrastructure could be extended to the whole of Australia.

High-Speed Rail from Adelaide to Melbourne to improve viability in South-Eastern Australia.