Categories
transport

#HighSpeedRail may not happen anytime soon, but it’s critical that the corridor be reserved

The Phase 2 Report from the High Speed Rail study was released last week — predicting that although HSR would cover its recurrent (running/maintenance) costs, it’d first take some $114 billion and 45 years to build it. As I’ve said before, I think a 3-ish hour trip from Melbourne to Sydney would be time-competitive with  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Sydney’s monorail is (most probably) going nowhere

The Sydney Monorail will finish operation at the end of June. It’s been interesting to see speculation on whether it would be purchased and moved to another site, such as elsewhere in Sydney or interstate. What this speculation appears to have missed is the important fact that the hardware is not in good shape. Last  ... [More]

Categories
transport Travel

Could High Speed Rail from Melbourne to Sydney be as fast as air travel?

The Federal government’s High Speed Rail study assumes a route from Melbourne via Canberra to Sydney of between 823 and 842 km (mostly following existing highways), with trains reaching up to 350 km/h, and a three hour trip time from Melbourne to Sydney. Some people who argue against the idea like to claim there is  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Sydney’s new PT fares

Sydney’s introducing a new public transport fare system called “MyZone”, from April. At first I pretty much believed the name and the colourful graphics on the web site, which implied that it’s a Melbourne-like multi-modal zone fare system, working on every train, bus, tram and ferry. But it isn’t. It’s mostly still paying by distance  ... [More]