The article is there for me but the printable version works.

I can only imagine that the very funny TV program "Nation building" forms a core part of "infrastructure Australia's" Operating hand book.

Their vision document has nothing that a year 12 student could not have pull together and has been almost completely dysfunctional in assisting any projects actually happening. Am I surprised...no.

It seems to me to be a funding subsmission for more naval gazing but no inovative solutions.

We are one of very few nations not to opt for self terminating thirty year, government guaranteed bonds.

Other nations have and use this money to build income earning infrastructure, as opposed to mindlessly privatizing everything not nailed down.

We have two trillion in our super funds!

A wise government would opt to create that investment vehicle here, and attract most of this money back here; and at work building the national estate.

The income could even be tax free, and doable given little of this money or the income it generates is paying any tax now!

As they say in the classics, 50% of something is better than 100% of nothing!

Half a trillion would build a rapid rail link down the entire length of the eastern seaboard, and given it is one of the busiest air routes in the world, guaranteed to earn the profit needed to service the loan money.

The Toowoomba range crossing would be another of those projects that earn good revenue from day one, always providing the administrators weren't too greedy. And still able to earn a decent quid thirty years down the tack when all the capital had been paid along with the remaining service obligations.

A national nuclear powered fleet of very fast roll on roll off ferries, could link with new rapid rail links to get our trade goods into Asia, all while massively reducing turnaround time and any handling.

Bulk shipping remains one of the most profitable business models in the world. Meaning we could put those two trillion to work right here in this economy, and reap any tax from the accompanying spin offs.

A two lane inland canal is another possible project that would completely transform this nation, our economy and indeed, our climate!

Two lanes would enable the huge northern tides to be harnessed to move shipping in and out, as well as water, meaning solar thermal powered desalination plants could be dotted along the entire length without creating a salt laden dead sea.

Just add ultra reliable water and our inland deserts will grow money!
Rhrosty.

Alan has again brought up the lack of forward planning and imagination within the government structure. Years ago two of us worked out how Very Fast Trains could be made to work in OZ (the secret was "New Towns" along the route) - the need for straight lines require a new route.

Of course no one listened.

I've sent the proposal to Alan at his Email address.

Very fast trains could be built along straight lines, if the line was either in shallow covered trenches or tunnels.

While that would cost more? It would likely cost less than resumed densely populated urban land.

Even so, some still rural land could be resumed and then in part rezoned in order to create brand new satellite cities down the entire length of that route.

And in the entire process, pay down most of the capital debt!

Putting the line underground just makes sense, given trains and cars or cattle what have is not a good mix!

Neither are trains rocketing in opposite directions on a single line!

If we are to invest in very fast trains, we should go for VLT technology, and build something we can power with large scale solar thermal technology or cheaper than coal thorium.

And indeed make the trip between our major capital cities quicker than air, and directly from C.B.D. And indeed, using only locally available energy/fuel. Which of itself, will quite massively reduce the costs of travel.

If we had this system, it could be limited to one train per single loop? Meaning no other train would be able to interact negatively!

And would mean passengers would need to transfer, and hardly any inconvenience for a guarantee no other 900 klm plus train could ever impact another.

Similarly, monorails could provide connectors, and given they also operate on a closed loop, limit the opportunity, for collisions. Or indeed, eliminate them as any form of gridlock or negatively impact on emergency vehicle movements.

Moving walkways and escalators would eliminate any bottlenecks and most of the transfer inconvenience?
Rhrosty.

Our problem has always been too larger country, with too smaller population, spread over too vaster areas.

Whereas you build a high speed rail network say in Japan, spanning for 1000KM, you may potentially serve ten's of millions of people, whereas build the same network here (for a much higher price) you might be lucky to service a potential catchment of just a couple of million people. The numbers simply don't stack up. Besides, how many private ventures do you need to witness going broke in this field before the message sinks in? Those who design the likes of tunnels get paid, those who provide the false and misleading projections also get paid, but the investors get screwed and they are now gun shy and who can blame them.

The other huge problem here is the entitlement mentality of so many, as they want the services, but complain about the toils, or simply avoid the services. This despite the tax payers being burdened with the likes of massive welfare and immigration expenditure, much of what was unplanned for and unbudgeted for.

So in other words you can pretty much have what you want,but you cant have it for nothing and support all of the hanger onners of this era that we support today.

A very fast train (VFT) passenger train can never even begin to work for Australian cities given numbers and distances. The trick is freight. 400 road freight trucks a night run between Sydney and Melbourne.

Why not put the Sydney to Melbourne freight on trains? .. too slow, overnight freight is 9 hours (by road) and over 12 by rail, and that's not overnight. Then there is the additional problem of large accessible freight terminals in Sydney and in Melbourne - they are simply not there.

So freight, plus passengers, plus links to new cities built along the VFT route, plus tourism, plus defense - well, if all are put together that may work.

Certainly, the Chinese are gambling on all that (plus geopolitics) for the new silk road.