bringing high speed rail a step closer - building a railway for the 21st century

BUILDING A RAILWAY FOR THE 21st CENTURY

BRINGING HIGH SPEED RAIL A STEP CLOSER

Max Michell, Scott Martin and Philip Laird

HIGH SPEED RAIL IN AUSTRALIA IS A STEP CLOSER - OR IS IT?

• The 2013 report to the Federal Government recommended the first stage by 2035 – more than 20 years off.

• That wait will have long since seen the demise of existing East Coast passenger rail outside the urban and commuter areas.

• How can we get High Speed ready while waiting for the real thing to eventuate – some thoughts and proposals in response to this conundrum.

Heading

WHAT IS HIGH SPEED RAIL?

Dedicated HSR

Mixed HSR

Fully mixed HSR

Tilting HSR

Maglev HSR

WHAT IS MEDIUM SPEED RAIL?

• MSR is a passenger rail system that is capable of running at 160 km/h or better over extended distances.

• MSR is an intermediate technology between classic rail and HSR – can be an end in itself or as a stepping stone to HSR

• Australia is at best at the lower end of MSR – XPT, V/locity, Diesel and Electric Tilt

HSR IS A HIGH CAPACITY SYSTEM – NEEDS HIGH VOLUME TRAFFIC FLOWS TO SUCCEED:-

• Needs to run between large population centres.

• Needs to feed from other land based transport including Medium Speed Rail (MSR) and urban rail.

• Can replace or complement air travel so needs to be able to interchange at airports.

IF HSR IS A LONG WAY OFF HAS MSR A PART TO PLAY IN AUSTRALIA?

• Could act as precursor to HSR.

• Could help retain longer distance rail in public consciousness.

• Could enable short sections of eventual HSR alignment and/or infrastructure to provide a useful interim service.

• Could help to change land travel culture to include rail.

• Could include potential HSR feeder routes.

MSR today – Victoria • Regional rail network

has 160 km/h running on Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong lines.

• Rail transit times car competitive on speed and frequency

• Significant long-term investment in track and rolling stock

• Some potential for further improvement

MSR today - Queensland • Narrow gauge 160

km/h electric & diesel tilt trains on North Coast Line (Brisbane- Rockhampton-Cairns)

• Modest infrastructure investment across 1700km-long corridor limits train overall speeds & frequencies

• Potential for significantly upgraded rail infrastructure on parts of the corridor

• XPT trains now 30 years old but only NSW trains capable of 160 km/h

• XPT services limited to three main lines (South, North Coast, West) with low frequency and low transit speeds.

• No known plans for XPT replacement or track improvement

MSR today – NSW

WHERE MIGHT MSR BE ADOPTED

• Notable that none of the Melbourne – Sydney – Brisbane route has had any alignment improvement.

• Largest non capital city population is Newcastle area at 421,000, or 738,000 if you include the Central Coast.

• Closest capital city pair is Sydney (circa 5 mill) and Canberra area (412,000)

• Both these are on future HSR route.

SYDNEY – NEWCASTLE

• High frequency but low speeds – typical semi-fast transit is 2h 27m to Broadmeadow (66 km/h); XPT best 2h 15m (72 km/h)

• Short-term improvements to alignment, new rolling stock and better pathing to increase train speeds and reliability could reduce travel times for ‘semi-fast’ trains to 2h 0m (81 km/h)

• Long-term travel times could reduce further to 1h 30m (105 km/h), but requires major infrastructure upgrades and high-perfomance rolling stock

SYDNEY – CANBERRA

• Potentially the best candidate for Australian MSR development

• 30 flights (40 mins) and 15 bus departures a day (3h 30m) are main competitors with rail (~4000 seats offered each way / day) along with car

• Medium-term infrastructure upgrading to HSR alignment standard is achievable in stages

• Route to North Canberra has long-term synergy with Sydney – Melbourne HSR route

CANBERRA TO SYDNEY – SUMMARY

• Distance reduced from 321km (via Tarago) to 270km (via Yass)

• Initial operation at 160 km/h with familiar diesel traction

• Transit times reduced from current 4 h 6m to 2 h 36m

• Transit times further reduced to 2h 0m with upgraded diesel operation to 200 km/h

• Eventual electric HSR travel time ~85m-90m

• Gains for other regional passenger trains of 70m-75m

North Canberra to Moss Vale

NORTH CANBERRA TO GOULBURN

• New line from new North Canberra station to junction with Main South near Gunning

• Realigned route from ‘Gunning’ to Breadalbane

• Selective realignment Breadalbane to Goulburn

• Distance reduction of 15km (105km → 90km)

• Transit time reduced from 90 min → 42 min (save 48 min)

GOULBURN TO MOSS VALE

• Curve easing and selective realignment over much of route

• Significant realignment between Marulan - Exeter

• Distance reduction 9km (79km → 70km)

• Time reduced from 53 min → 37 min (save 16 min)

Moss Vale to Sydney

MOSS VALE TO CAMPBELLTOWN

• New route Mittagong to Menangle (‘Wentworth’ route)

• Selective realignment of remainder

• Distance reduction 27km (91km → 64km)

• Time reduced from 68 min → 42 min (save 26 min)

CAMPBELLTOWN TO SYDNEY

• Route via East Hills – mostly similar alignment to now

• Improvement to junctions at Erskineville, Sydenham, Wolli Ck.

• Curve speed improvement where achievable

• Additional facilities to allow better pathing.

• Distance remains 46 km

• Time consistently 30-35 mins (now variable to 45 mins)

COST FOR MSR STANDARD RAILWAY

• A cost of approximately $3.5 billion has been estimated for the 200km/h standard diesel operated MSR railway.

• For full HSR, curves would be flattened to 7000m, towns by-passed, Sydney entry improved, plus electrification and trains.

• The 2013 HSR Report suggests $18 billion for the full HSR over the Sydney – Canberra section including a brave amount of tunneling.

OVERVIEW OF MSR CONCEPT

• MSR on or close to future HSR route is possible between Sydney and Canberra – at travel times half those at present

• Synergy with trains to Melbourne and Southern and Western NSW – a parallel with French TGV or German ICE running on classic rail routes beyond HSR tracks.

• Initial diesel operation allows seamless interoperability with remainder of network.

OVERVIEW OF MSR CONCEPT (continued)

• Keeps regional passenger rail visible & viable pending go-ahead for HSR (alternative is demise of existing routes and services)

• Provides design and construct experience with value for HSR project when it goes ahead.

• Allows testing of “how can we achieve the best affordable result” rather than the “how much will it cost” of 2013 Report.

CONCLUSIONS

• There is potential for MSR as the ‘leading edge’ of a full HSR project over appropriate line sections.

• Canberra to Sydney is an obvious choice – large populations with high mobility and mature transport options apart from the archaic rail link.

• If Sydney-Canberra MSR works, there are other regional links which would benefit; e.g. Sunshine Coast, Toowoomba, Albury/Wagga Wagga, Newcastle, Wollongong.