Labor commits to build fast train from Melbourne to Brisbane

Australian Financial Review Mar 20, 2019 11.00pm

Phillip Coorey

EXCLUSIVE  Federal Labor will lock in its commitment to build a fast train from Melbourne to Brisbane by promising to start buying the land corridor if elected.

The Australian Financial Review understands that Labor will promise funds during the election campaign to start securing the corridor, which Infrastructure Australia estimates will cost a total of $2.8 billion.

Shadow infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese, who has been pushing the project for several years, says there has been longstanding interest from China, Japan and Europe to build the rail line.

"The Japan Railway Company. They've had an office here (in Sydney) since the 1980s waiting for something to happen,'' he told a recent transport forum.

"The Europeans, the Chinese, there's a great deal of interest.''

When last in government, Labor promised $50 million to establish a High Speed Rail Authority to oversee the project.

The authority was a recommendation of a panel led by former Nationals leader and train buff Tim Fischer and Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott.

A preliminary business case also concluded the project would return $2 for every $1 invested.

Labor to promise rail authority and funding

Labor will promise at this election to establish the authority if elected, to begin buying the corridor to quarantine it from development and urban sprawl, and to go to the international market looking for a builder.

Labor stepped up its push for the railroad on Wednesday in response to Scott Morrison announcing his population policy, which incorporated existing plans to build smaller rail networks linking eastern state capitals to regional population centres.

These include fast rail links between Melbourne and Shepparton, Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, and Sydney and Newcastle.

"That can help with the decentralisation agenda, if it you connect fast rail to your orbital cities around the big capitals. We'll have more to say about that at a later time,'' said Population Minister Alan Tudge.

Mr Albanese said a high-speed rail link down the east coast, in which an express trip from Melbourne to Sydney at 350km per hour would take three hours, was a better option for linking the regions to the capitals and easing urban congestion.

Labor envisages the railroad having express services as well as those which stop at regional centres.

"High-speed rail would also be a game-changer for communities along its path, including the Gold Coast, Grafton, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Newcastle, the Central Coast, Southern Highlands, Canberra, Wagga Wagga and Shepparton,'' Mr Albanese said.

"There is strong interest from the private sector with experience in high-speed-rail technology."

"These consortiums would bring their expertise as well as their investment.''

He said the project could not be funded by so-called value capture, where people living near the route would fund it with increased land taxes because the value of their property rises.

Mr Albanese has moved several private members bills in Opposition trying to breathe life into the project, but it is not a Coalition priority.

Mr Morrison said yesterday the details for his government’s proposed links would be included in the budget and feature during the election campaign.