Metro proposes Sydney to Geelong rail link

Melbourne train operator, Metro Trains, unveils a plan for an ultra-light high-speed rail between Sydney and Geelong. But with a series of high-speed rail projects proposed and then abandoned in recent years, is the idea viable?

By GEORGIE MOORE

METRO Trains has proposed a high-speed rail network between Melbourne and Sydney that could cut travel time between the two cities to two and a half hours.

CEO Andrew Lezala last night unveiled plans for the ultra-light rail system  in a speech at Swinburne University’s Engineering Futures Forum.

Designed to travel along existing highway networks, he said costs could be reduced to $10 million per kilometre, making high-speed rail financially viable.

“Unless you can build a high-speed line for $10 million per kilometre, it’s not going to be commercially viable and, therefore, it’s not going to happen. So we have to change the paradigm,” he said.

"By reconfiguring where everything is, you can actually achieve an extremely light train which allows you to be able to elevate it with an affordable elevated structure and use existing [highway] corridors.”

Under the proposal, the service would be extended to Geelong cutting the travel time from there to Melbourne to 16 minutes and Tullamarine to Avalon in 13 minutes.

Mr Lezala said this would negate the need for Tullamarine’s third runway, proposed last year, and could challenge airlines’ dominance of the travel market.

“It’ll be a cheaper journey in a quicker time… We can move 9,600 people an hour in each direction, so we can actually increase the (Melbourne) corridor capacity.”

“So what will the airlines do once there’s competition in the mix?” he asked.

Recent proposals for high-speed rail include a 2011 Federal Government High Speed Rail Study on a Brisbane to Melbourne link, via Sydney and Canberra, estimated to cost up to $108 billion.

High speed rail has been proposed since the 1980s though, despite never moving beyond the drawing board, Mr Lezala remains optimistic about its chances.

“Yes, I think it will happen, but with a different technology. The kind that I’ve shown tonight.”

However, some in the engineering industry think the plan is currently unviable.

“I think it’s too left field at this stage in time and [there is] too much development required [for it] to be a reality… It’s just very different from modern normal trains and normal high-speed trains. What he [Lezala] is proposing hasn’t been built anywhere in the world,” said Andrew Landells from engineering and construction company Kellogg Brown and Roots, which worked on Victoria’s regional rail link.

“It will happen, but it’s more like 20, 30, 40, 50 years than years [down the track] because of the costs associated with it and maybe the population density and people using the service.”

Phase Two of the Federal Government's High Speed Rail Study was meant to be released in late 2012. A spokesperson for the Department of Infrastructure and Transport told mojo today that the report is due to be completed and delivered to the Government in the coming months.