That hoary old chestnut - a " Bullet train " connecting Melbourne/Sydney/Brisbane has again raised it's head - with a suggested price tag of a whopping $ 114 billion. Most people sadly shake their head and regard that as " pie in the sky " - way out of reach of this country's finances.
It all depends on whether we do our planning sums right. We would need to borrow money to bring that rail dream to fruition, but there is opportunity knocking on the door to rearrange our spending plans - if we have a clear idea of where we want this country to go.
We are about to reach a decision on the cost of the NBN rollout. If we take the connection to every home in every street it will cost $ 44 billion. If we accept a lesser speed and connect to a " node " and use the existing copper wire for the final connection, it will cost $ 29 billion - delivering a saving of $ 15 billion. That would be a healthy contribution to that fast train project.
Sydney badly needs a second airport - and a decision to build one is pressing. The Sydney/Melbourne air corridor is the third busiest city connection in the world. Obviously, a rail connection that could deliver people between those cities in two hours and forty-four minutes would go a long way towards lowering Sydney air traffic. How many billions will that new airport cost ?
A long time ago the way people connected between home and work involved daily trips on trams. As the major cities grew, rail replaced trams and now we have a rail network that connects the far suburbs to the city hub, but the work situation now includes people who live in the cities and towns that stretch between our state capitals - and neither air services or the existing slow train network can bridge their needs.
The majority of the Australian population is concentrated in the eastern coast of this continent. It is a case of " connecting the dots " to create the unified work opportunities that a high speed rail connection would achieve. In particular, it would ease pressure on the three great cities that are bursting at the seams because they represent the job opportunities that people seek. Fast travel would make it possible to live far from a common workplace - and yet commute within a reasonable fare structure, and that is something that airlines will never be able to fully provide.
Providing the finance to make high speed rail a reality is simply a matter of deciding priorities. If that's what we want, then we need to put it at the top of the list of things to do - and make the necessary spending adjustments to meet the cost.
It all depends if the outcome is worth the financial pain !
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