I like the sound of this idea, but why should a private company do it and gouge consumers for it when the government could just do it itself and own it instead of the private company?

I agree with Alan B, but I also think we should massively expand the project to become a new national highway linking all capital cities as well as the HSR, and water, power, internet infrastructure as well and drastically reduce the cost of building this venture by instigating a new work for the dole scheme which trades work for skills training, allows people to earn double their dole (while they are unemployed) get paid daily and work anytime - existing workers in the workforce can get extra work if they want, including owner / drivers - jobs and training for the indigenous - clean up closed mine sites and use raw materials for the project.

They worry about rise of cost of housing?
Well bring the country to the city, and the rich city folk to the country.
We'll build massive factories to roll out made to order removable homes straight off the production line onto the back of trucks and delivered anywhere on our new efficient national transport network transport.
We'll get everyone having a go and being productive starting with learning the power of the humble tractor.
We'll transport water where its needed and hook in dams and desalination plants, well build thorium plants and lower the cost of energy for business, well build sunfarms and build em cheap, knock a star picket into the ground, mount the solar panel to the mounting frame and drop it on the star picket and wire it up.

The new work for the dole system will give people real fast skills and lower the cost of government expenditure across the board and provide opportunities for unemployed and semi-employed people to get ahead, putting funds for discretionary spending in the poorest of pockets.

The 'cant do it' attitude never got nothing done.
All you have to do is think about how YOU CAN.

Walk 10 klicks? Why not? Even so, less distance than the average 50 kilomtre forced marches Has would recommend as the minimum?

One would think he's never heard of connecting monorails, moving walkways and so on which act as feeder arteries that then amplify the profitability of a fully integrated user friendly system!
Alan B.

When the Clem 7 tunnel was built under the Brisbane river a few years back the state government decided the best thing to do with the hugely expensive tunneling equipment was to bore it into a side chamber and seal it up.
Maybe dismantling and moving it would've been costly but to throw such an important piece of equipment away...
Well I still cant see the sense in it.

Earlier this year near were I live they upgraded or built a culvert for a very small creek under an existing single lane carriageway.
3 months later, and with (my guess) 15 workers working full time each day the job was completed.
Not sure what the cost was, but I'm guessing half a million dollars.
I can't understand why it took more than 2 or 3 weeks.
If this is what it costs to do things then its no wonder nothing big ever gets even contemplated.

Alan B, why do you insist in living in the 20Th century, then trying to apply 21st century technology to try to make it work.

With modern communications there is absolutely no reason to transport 10s of thousands to a central point for work. This is such a ridiculous system today, I can't believe some still see it as the way to go.

First move all those thousands of bureaucrats out of the city, & spread them around the medium & outer suburbs. This eliminates 50% of the city bound workers. Many more that are only in the city to cash in on the over paid bureaucrats spending will have to follow them.

In one simple move, you have eliminated about 65% of city bound commuter journeys. Then private transport, or small local public transport can do the rest, without generating the huge congestion city based employment causes.

You even save the cost of huge white elephants like HSR, which is a loss making enterprise every where it operates.

The highest recorded maglev speed is 603 km/h (375 mph) , hardly worth the expense. On the other hand a rail gun at Mach7 is ten times as fast , Sydney-Melb in 6 minutes with magnetic capturing-cylinder at the receiving end and no structures between the cities.

The fast enough rail project, which requires an upgrade and
straightening the route, together with upgrading track standards to
those used in the UK. That will halve the time Sydney Melbourne to
about five hours at 200Km per hour.
We already have the express rolling stock.

This I believe is the solution for the 21st century. It is all we will
need for the rest of the century and we maybe not even that for the next.

The 22nd century will not be anything like the present time.