>>1426392It would not even be particularly hard to arrange track access for a new Australian National/Commonwealth railways (organisations now relegated to the past). The Australian Rail Track Corporation owns or leases railways connecting all our major capitals.
I think it's a crying shame the only 'passenger' trains that are in for the truly long haul routes like The Ghan, Indian Pacific are tourist trains only. I also think it's ridiculous to fly to Sydney then back to another regional town in NSW, with long stopover times. In the end though, it still seems to work out faster...
If we want interstate and long-haul rail to make a comeback we need to somehow secure the political will, which will be a massive uphill slog. The other problem is the ridiculously low quality of track in the interstate network. Some say the XPT is getting 'clapped out', but I know for a fact the rails it runs on are in terrible shape. Worse, the route north past Newcastle gets incredibly twisty and super-elevated.
We all know Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne is the biggest air travel corridor in the world. Reducing demand for those flights is going to go a long way to congestion at those airports, and to benefitting the regional communities in between.
Here's an interesting article about intra-state rail:
https://www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/australia-needs-to-stop-fantasising-about-highspeed-rail-and-build-mediumspeed-rail-instead/news-story/7c0b3c967b145147929dbc00b6df1463So here's the dilemma: Build new or upgrade? Build new tracks to achieve true high speed, at massive cost; or upgrade existing tracks incrementally and get some gains.
