Conference hears Australia is ready for high-speed rail

by John Satterley

SENIOR lecturer in the Graduate College of Management at Southern Cross University Dr Michael Charles, said HSR could be defined as a train capable of travelling at 250km/h (and faster) on a dedicated line.
It had been shown, he said, that HSR could capture at least 50% of the market, possibly more, if a rail journey took less than four hours.  The Melbourne to Sydney route was therefore a prime candidate for HSR.
Charles was addressing AusRail Plus 2009 as a program leader of the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Rail Innovation. Top government and rail industry players attended the three-day conference and exhibition.
Introducing him, the CRC’s CEO David George, said the organisation was in the third year of a $100m research program that had 42 projects underway. Every urban rail operator in Australasia was allied with the CRC, “which can be truly seen as the research body of the industry”.
Busy corridor
David George told delegates the Sydney to Melbourne air corridor had 78 flights in each direction each day, many of which were wide bodied – an air corridor traffic density that ranked third in the world. HSR could obviously win passengers and supplement air travel.
This could not be done alone by the private sector. There also needed to be a strong federal nation-building vision from the Government. The CRC would shortly release its first report based on research into the applicability of HSR in Australia.
Daniel Dunoye, business development director for Alstom Transport Asia Pacific, said there had been a “very steep” increase in the number of HSR networks worldwide.
Pointing to China as the main reason, he said that country now had 10,000km of lines.  Europe had 6000km. In service in 10 countries were almost 700 trains capable of 300km/h and higher, and Alstom had 50% of the market.
It had been shown, he said, that when travel times were around 3½ hours the share between HSR and air was 50-50.
Alstom had been involved in a study 10 years ago for an HSR line between Sydney and Canberra. The cost was $4.6bn but the project did not proceed because the federal government would not participate or allow taxation concessions.
Time to reconsider
The cost would be higher today but “when you look at what is happening in Europe and China this is the right time to reconsider.”
Papers on CRC projects presented included counteracting railway graffiti (a national workshop is planned), engineering for performance improvement (video cameras in drivers’ cabins will capture images that can be used to reduce the threat at level crossing with high road use), and underpinning rail workforce development (identifying whether simulators for train operators are value for money).
[Current research projects can be viewed at www.railcrc.net.au ]
HSR “vision” urged
National Transport Commission chairman Nick Dimopoulos called for “serious discussion on developing a vision” for HSR along Australia’s east coast.
The combined population of Sydney and Melbourne would grow from currently 10 million to around 14 million in the next 30 to 40 years, he said.
HSR could be a part of the transportation solution. It would be very expensive “but a public private partnership approach may be the way to go”.
David Marchant, CEO of Australian Rail Track Corporation and chairman of Australasian Railway Association reported that Adelaide will be home of a new national rail regulator from 2012, a move the industry expects will save $42m in duplicated regulatory costs. 
The industry currently has seven state and federal bodies with which freight and passenger companies must comply, but the Australian Transport Council has settled on Adelaide as the home for a single rail safety and investigation body.
Council of Australian Governments approval is expected because the move already has the support of state and federal transport ministers.
Marchant used the conference to release the Australian rail industry report for 2007-08, which can be viewed at www.ara.net.au