While I love travelling by train, the increasing trend for spread in cities without sufficient public transport puts them more in competition with airlines than other forms of transport. Given the speed and price of plane travel, rail is only ever going to be a niche market in our modern time pressed world.

A possible way they could compete is by providing a package that includes both the traveller’s tickets and a car so that holidayers could have the convenience of a car without the downside of the drive. Reasonable priced packages of this nature would open up many more areas to tourism while reducing carbon emissions, reducing wear on road infrastructure and reducing the traveller’s chance of becoming part of the road toll

When was the last time you crossed the country east west by rail? Its a truly wonderful experience but you'll need to take out a mortgage to buy the ticket.

I agree with the sentiments expressed by the author.
I would point out that the XPTs run at 200Km/hr in the UK, not 150Km/hr.
To watch a motor bike rider or a Porche racing the train on an
adjacent motorway and losing illustrates the point. I have seen this.

Those of you who have traveled the east coast run London to Edinburgh
will know what I mean.
I believe there was one modification to the XPTs here in that the
gearing was changed because of the climb from Hawkesbury to Cowan in Sydney.
The lines were laid out in the late 1800s using horses and scoops so
with modern earth moving machines really fast track could be laid.
We will have to start work on the railways before the airlines
become unaffordable. QANTAS's present troubles are just the writing on the wall.

Thanks, Baz, for that information on the XPT. I wasn't aware of this. As I write, I am listening to the House of Reps on ABC radio, with the depressing news that the Abbott Government in abandoning funding of rail, despite much-vaunted declarations prior the election that his would be an "infrastructure Government". James Page.

An excellent article. I'd love to travel to Brisbane by train, I adore train travel, but not if it makes me bankrupt. That trip costs more then twice as much as a car, and double that if there are two of us; no one can afford it. The Sunlander takes cars, but you can only load and unload them in Brisbane and Cairns. Too bad if you live in Maryborough. And the curves are so sharp wherever there are hills the train slows to a crawl and screeches so loud on poorly maintained rails I often see the passengers with fingers in their ears, even on the so-called luxury "Fast train".
Supermarkets discovered fifty years ago that high turnover and low profit margins work better than high profit margins and small turnover. It's time the Railways understood that

An excellent article. I'd love to travel to Brisbane by train, I adore train travel, but not if it makes me bankrupt. That trip costs more than twice as much as a car, and double that if there are two of us; no one can afford it. The Sunlander takes cars, but you can only load and unload them in Brisbane and Cairns. Too bad if you live in Maryborough. And the curves are so sharp wherever there are hills the train slows to a crawl and screeches so loud on poorly maintained rails I often see the passengers with fingers in their ears, even on the so-called luxury "Fast train".
Supermarkets discovered fifty years ago that high turnover and low profit margins work better than high profit margins and small turnover. It's time the Railways understood that

James,
I think a large number of people would support your sentiments whole heartedly.
Another point in support of your thesis is the imminent arrival of peak oil and the ongoing depletion of other finite resources.
There is so much work needed to be done to the Australian rail system generally that we need to start right now to avoid unaffordable air and road transport costs when fuel is $5 or more per Litre.
Meaningful changes can be made immediately at relatively low cost. For example, recently they have taken nearly an hour off the Armidale to Sydney journey simply by installing a 20C signalling system and upgrading some level crossings

I like trains. As a kid I did a Townsville to Sydney trip, & as a young man the Sydney to Perth trip. I loved them both.

The last time one of us wanted to travel by train was when my wife, with a young daughter had to go from the Whitsundays to Maryborough.

She did not want to drive, air travel is still basically to or from Brisbane, not inter city in Qld, & she certainly did not want to cart the daughter by bus. Rail was by far the best answer.

The only problem was it was booked solid for 6 weeks in advance, by pensioners taking a cheap subsidised holiday trip. She had to travel new years eve to get on the thing, the only day/night not booked out.

Cost is the other problem. It is more expensive than flying, & by the time you throw in cab fares at each end, I find it cheaper to drive, even solo. With 2 or more the car wins by a mile.

Add an extra day or 2 & a few side trips to some of the places you always wanted to have a look at, & with the car you have a short holiday package, rather than just transportation.

The idea of taking the car on the train would definitely appeal, provided the cost is not too high.

James, yes it was a thrill to ride the rails in the UK.
Last time, I went from London to Bletchley Park on what we would call
a local service but its speeds were very much higher than even our
xpt does for many parts of their trips.
Speeds must have been around 120Km/hr.

Sorry to hear that the government is not going to fund rails.
Well that ties in with their attitude to fuel security, both sides of
government has said there is no problem.
I have had my figures for my car costs per km including service etc and
it is cheaper by air to Melbourne where my son lives than by car and
the train is more expensive also for two people. For one person the
plane is cheaper, provided you book middle of the day.
I have noticed a big increase in air fares otherwise.

It is hard to believe that any government would deliberately ignore
what is happening fuel and put money into roads and not rail.
Likewise to allow all our refineries to be closed and rely on 100%
import of all of our petrol and diesel, aaarrrggghhh !

Both parties have been totally stupid or corrupt on this matter.

Imperial, you are indeed an optimist.
To be practical the planning should be on $10 a litre a very few years
after 2020. Some suggest earlier.
If I were PM I would start on duplication of the line between
Brisbane-Sydney-Melbourne together with electrification.

Sitting on Hornsby station yesterday while one of these 2KM+ long
freight trains with three diesels up front thundered through with
what must been more than 100 containers on board (I lost count)made
me contemplate how many trucks were taken off Pennant Hills Rd.
All just moved by two men !

When we boarded our train I found that we passed that freight standing
on a siding 10km down the line to let passenger trains pass.
What a waste ! The third freight track now being built will be a
Godsend to the economy.
These freight trains run night and day, but mainly at night and if
duplication and electrification could be implemented our transport
and food security could be very much more secure.

We have an abundance of cheap fuel for trains, it's called coal.

Thank you, James, for this article and thanks to all the commentators for the polite and civilised replies.
I am required to be in Newcastle twice a year. As we drove down from the Sunshine Coast, my wife and I would constantly pass over a single track railway line. It took us a while to realise that this single track, constantly twisting railway was the main east coast railway between Sydney and Brisbane. It was still following the 1890s alignment, where it was cheaper to follow the contours around a ridge than to cut straight through it. Passing loops occurred every 20 kilometres or so.
Imagine driving between Brisbane and Sydney on a road which had not been re-aligned in the twentieth century with an overtaking lane every 20 km or so. We just wouldn’t accept it!
I hope our “infrastructure Prime Minister” sees this railway line and does something about it. He could start by realigning the permanent way so that higher speeds were possible. At the same time, the entire railway could be double-tracked so that the traffic in each direction was independent of the traffic in the other direction.
I take the point that Is Mise is making completely. We have enormous reserves of coal which could be used to power 21st century rail without having to revert to the steam locomotives we all think of when we think ‘steam power’. The French engineer Andre Chapelon [I hope I have his name right] showed how steam locomotives could be as efficient as, if not more so than, diesel or diesel-electric power.
Fluid bed technology could be used to improve the combustion of coal to close to 100% to ensure that more of the energy was used and less was blown up the chimney.
Rail travel could have a renaissance based on properly aligned and ballasted double track hailed by new generation steam locomotives.

I think Brian that steam locomotives are out of the question because of
the high maintenance costs.
However there will never be a time when oil is not available and the
cost may be such that it could be used for high worth functions such
as railway locomotives.
I presume there is a formula to calculate what level of traffic will
be best, electrification or diesel, with input of oil price and electricity price and cost of electrification.

Railway administrations probably already have such a calculation.

I agree. But Governments do not. In NSW the XPT is treated like any other train, not an express since it no longer has priority over other rail traffic.

In Qld the tilt trains are great, but the pension booking fee for a free return journey now means it's cheaper for us to drive the car 289km to Brisbane - for one or more people.
Let's face it, trains are old hat. Governments think they are much better off promoting planes so there is very little happening in the train domain at the moment.

New trains (Qld has them) work well with good speeds - even though QLD now had some questionable schedules.

NSW XPT's desperately need some work to bring them up to speed - change out the English diesels for one thing! NSW tilt trains would be good but while the infrastructure is solely used for $15 fares it is hard. But maybe a fare system like the airlines use would work in the off-peak periods. Just maybe they could try to actually sell seats and not just have them available. Overbook - Yes, Overbook to fill the trains. Won't happen while NSW rail workers leave visitors seated while they go home at 16:07 and the tea lady still has a job.

Meanwhile SA, NT and VIC have no Govt. operated interstate trains. VIC has had a go at long distance rail cars, but still doesn’t understand what they are doing - it was a good idea and that's about it.

Rail had to be competitive to win the race.

I have been to Melbourne a few times by rail on the XPT.
They stop and most stations along the way and they we almost fully
booked with people boarding and leaving along the way and most looked
like they would have been full fare paying passengers.

Harvey, whats wrong with the diesel engines ?
I presume you mean the engines in the propulsion cars at each end ?
Actually, I don't think there is anything else other than XPTs on the
line s now.
There could be rail car units out of Newcastle but that is about it.
I have not seen other than XPTs out of Sydney (except electrics of course)
The XPTs must be approaching their use by time as they have been
around for a long time.

Further to what Brian said

""... during his farewell address.... Chapelon was not happy. Everybody knew that his best locomotives had been scrapped.... But why scrap the best machines? Because after the war the French governement wanted to show France as a strong and progressive nation, so a political decision was taken to get rid of steam traction as quickly as possible.

However Chapelon's 242-A-1 had demonstrated such high power outputs that it created political embarrassment, so SNCF demanded that Chapelon build a new machine that excluded his best steam technology. Thus the 241-P series became Chapelon's newest creation, but not his best. Chapelon claimed that new steam technologies could be outperform electric traction until 1980 when he planned that the last steam locomotives should be built and which would remain in operation until 2010. By then the performance of electric traction would be markedly superior to that of steam."
< http://5at.co.uk/index.php/modern-steam-2/andre-chapelon.html >

Even simple steam locomotives are far more efficient than the belching clouds of black smoke monsters that one sees in films; a properly fired and driven steam loco seldom makes black smoke or much of any other colour at all.

Great article Jim. With the Sydney to Melbourne air corridor being the fifth busiest in the world and the regular pushes for a 2nd sydney airport, a high speed, frequent rail service from Sydney to Melbourne seems an obvious choice.

Also, house affordability in Sydney is continually decreasing with first home buyers finding it difficult to break into the market. High speed rail would make surrounding cities and towns such as Newcastle and Wollongong a viable option for those with jobs in the Sydney CBD.

hi.james..[noted you/at the god topic]
and having done long distance/rail..as..well as commuter rail..ihave some opinions..too..

you wrote..<<..The mantra ought to be: fast trains,
*not very fast trains.>>

exactly

i noted..the travel times..to longreach..[on the super fast thing]
was a frustrating thing..because as you poinnt out..the track..is too poor..to/go..at faster speeds

i..noted..the track..condition..sydney/canbera..was in extreme poor state[we were speed restricted often..so yes the tracks need sorting

<<..If improvements in track quality and rail alignment were introduced on a wide scale, we would have the potential to nearly halve the passenger travel time between our capital cities, and just with our existing rolling stock.>>

yes egzactly

also the times..of departure..not linking effectively[efficiently..]..to other/local lines

further..the staff are ignorant..of the little time..savers
eg..i have overnighted three times in..sydney..wasting half a day

[when you can get off earlier stop..and go straight though[if your told]..its..much/the same both ways..

anyhow im.. surprised..you didnt get into light rail
[much like the cane/train..rail/system

[lets face it..their only used..at harvest time..so..must be cheap..to lay..[here we stand..with a dead auto industry
but what if they were engaged..in building LIGHT RAIL*/systems

anyhow for mine..if you/got a traffic flow problem
build light rail..[really more like automatic driving auto;s]
stamped out in....their thousands..sort/of..like..a cross between an auto/train

anyhow..the worlds not perfect
but your on/the right track

dream/big..ie
issue..the light rail bonds
based on/the value..of the right/to cross the....lands
[much like presently councils sell off their sewer system
[but then rent it back]..just to.,.get a few extra bucks..

thought flow lost..

truthfully..my/minds on/the other thread..
i..have a lot of expectation,,for this xmass