High Speed Rail

        
announces
High Speed Rail 2011
21st September 2011 | Hotel Realm Canberra

IMPORTANT ANNOUCEMENT !
The inaugural High Speed Rail conference will now be held on 21^st September 2011 ! 

High Speed Rail 2011, hosted by Australasian Railway Association, has changed dates from 9th August to 21st September. The event has been developed to coincide with the now released $20m feasibility Government study into possible routes for a high-speed rail link between southeast Queensland, Sydney and Melbourne. Read more about the study here

The new date for High Speed Rail 2011 will give you the opportunity to review and discuss the content of the report in details with your peers. This event features an address from Richard Farmer, General Manager of High Speed Rail for the Department of Infrastructure and Transport, who will share his thoughts on developing a long-term vision for High Speed Rail in Australia.

It is also the only program where you can hear from the Australasian Railway Association CEO Bryan Nye who will be examining the key findings of the much-anticipated feasibility study

Plus: Contributions from leading stakeholders across Australia including:

• Richard Farmer, General Manager High Speed Rail, Department of Infrastructure and Transport
• Bryan Nye, CEO, Australasian Railway Association
• Stephen Byron, Executive Director, Canberra International Airport
• Stewart Allan, Customer Director, Alstom Australia
• Martin Locke, Partner Project Finance, PricewaterhouseCoopers
• Adam Bandt, MP, Australian Greens

View the full agenda and speaker line-up here

High Speed Rail to become a reality?

The government is now releasing the first stage of a $20 million study into building an east coast high speed rail network. It is estimated to cost between $61 and $108 billion to build and has the potential to transport 54 million passengers a year by 2036, with fares between $100 and $197 for a Sydney to Melbourne trip.

Findings in the report released today include:

• Newcastle and Sydney could take just 40 minutes, for a ticket price as low as $16.50
• Sydney to Brisbane could take three hours for as little as $75.
• The Melbourne-Brisbane line would link two-thirds of the Australian population.
• Much of the cost of the project would be due to land acquisition and upgrading existing infrastructure
  • Properties would have to be resumed to make way for the track and access to Brisbane city alone would cost $3 billion and a further $2 billion for a makeover of the station to cater for the new service.
  • It would cost up to $10.8 billion to build a line into Sydney to Central, and a $3 billion improvement to the station.
  • In Melbourne, access to Southern Cross or North Melbourne would cost $3.3 billion with $2 billion to be spent on the station.

The project would most likely be constructed in stages due to the financial pressure of building the project all in one go.

• Linking Sydney to Canberra would cost between $10.9 billion and $24.6 billion. The journey would take an hour.
• Extending the line to Melbourne from Canberra would cost another $19.5 billion to $25.6 billion, and a ticket to Melbourne would cost between $99 and $197. A ticket to Brisbane would cost between $75 and $177.

Australasian Railway Association CEO Bryan Nye, a member of the Feasibility Study Committee, says with trains able to travel at 350km/hr, the benefits of High Speed Rail far outweigh its costs.

“When you consider that $293 billion has been invested in our roads since 1985, $100 billion to link the East Coast through a High Speed Rail network seems insignificant.”

“High Speed Rail can be emissions-free. It will also create more jobs, allow people better access to employment, take cars off our roads, improve the links between major cities and regional areas, defer the need for a second Sydney airport and increase land values in regional areas.

Mr Nye says high speed rail will dynamically change the way we live, where we work and how we travel “Imagine travelling from Brisbane to the Gold Coast within 15 minutes, Canberra to Sydney in under an hour and Sydney to Melbourne in less than three hours,” he said. “This is an exciting future.”

Why should you attend High Speed Rail 2011?

• This is the only High Speed Rail conference made by industry for industry!
• High Speed Rail 2011 is the only conference featuring all aspects relevant to the integration of High Speed Rail in Australia. This allows delegates the opportunity to see how the construction and operation of High Speed Rail can be successfully achieved.
• This is presented by the Australasian Railway Association and Informa Australia, the conveners of the industry-acclaimed annual AusRAIL conference and exhibition