As an old Railways Man of 26 years keeping worn out Wagons on the rails& having done my time from Porter to Managing in part, a Wagon Repair Depot. I profess to know a little about Rail.

Passenger Rail outside City Transport is a huge waste of State & Federal Finances.

Our little Depot took a huge fleet of Wagons at about 60% efficiency to 99.8% back onto the rails in five years, despite Senior Managements interference.

This Depot has been sold to a third party. Their idea of keeping 100% of wagons in service is to remove them from the rails so they are no longer counted. I was informed of this in a meeting with my former Team Members & seeing the hundreds of Wagons parked alongside, but not on, the rails. The available fleet for service is half of what was in service 17 years ago.

I do believe that Rail is far superior than Trucks for the movement of Freight around Australia. Aircraft are far Superior than Rail for the Movement of people.

The cost of upkeep of the Road Network would halve using Rail.

This is all mute of course. This "New Idea" has been around, as far as ZI can ascertain for a hundred years. I even have a Map that shows the Rail line from Townsville to, Derby?, Broom?, Pt. Headland? to Meekatharra & on to Perth. Produced about 40 years ago. It also has the Rail line from Darwin to Adelaide marked on it. These are marked on as Proposed Lines. The Federal Government at the time claimed responsibility for the New Infrastructure. Yair right.

Cont.

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I remember when I moved to the Townsville North Yard Workshops there were survey markers everywhere around the Ross Creek. I was informed that this was for the new Townsville Station. That was in 1882. They opened the New Station in 2004/5. The New Workshops at Stuart were Surveyed in 1945 & not built until 1995. Of course the State Government at the time claimed the credit for the building of the New Infrastructure. Yair right.

So I do believe the New Melbourne to Toowoomba to Darwin via Mt Isa will eventually be built I won't hold my breath. Work has started at the Bromelton hub near Beaudesert already, so that's promising.

Looks like you may get your Rail Line Everald, But then, you are more privileged to that future information than us Peones.

How say you?

The problem with this railway proposal, apart from the cost and that much of the vision is based on fantasy, is that it bypasses our largest city Sydney, not to mention two of our busiest ports - Newcastle and Port Kembla - and the fast growing regional areas of the NSW North Coast, Central Coast and Hunter Valley.
If freight railway is a priority surely the better option is improving the existing railway line which currently links Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane and upgrading the railway through and around Sydney. This would surely cost less than building hundreds of kilometers of new tracks and be more useful as it would deliver freight to much more population.
The article doesn't mention the impact on the freight industry of driverless vehicles. By the time this railway is complete, it is likely driverless trucks will be the norm, making road freight much more efficient than it is now. Considering trucks are already the mainstay of domestic freight, it is hard to see how this railway will compete.

AntP:is that it bypasses our largest city Sydney, not to mention two of our busiest ports - Newcastle and Port Kembla - and the fast growing regional areas of the NSW North Coast, Central Coast and Hunter Valley.

Obviously NSW centric. These Cities will have feeder Lines. The Idea is to carry Freight to Ports. Ports are areas where Freight is transferred to & from feeder lines or Roads. E.g.; Bromelton. Smaller Trucks take the freight to distribution Parks around the Cities. That's the theory anyway.

I guess they used to be called Shunting yards. Been there, done my time as a Shunter, using hand signals & Lights, in the most dangerous Shunting Yard in the World, South Yard Townsville. Shunting both ends towards the middle around a double S Bend. That was before Radios. There is no Fly shunting & Catcher or Switcher any more & it's all auto Couplers now. No swing links.

Just for fun, have a look at the Indian Railway system.
It probably carries more freight and passengers in one week than Australia does in a year.

On the proposed route there would be some passenger traffic but it will
only be justified by freight.
However the majority of freight will moves between Brisbane & Sydney,
Sydney & Melbourne, and a smaller amount between Brisbane & Melbourne.
The line from Newcastle to Sydney is at capacity. Long freights run
all night in both directions and they jam them in between passenger
services during the day.
So the proposed line would relieve that.
Unfortunately there are just too many bridges & tunnels to be altered
between Newcastle Sydney and Parkes to enable double stacking containers.

Freight between Brisbane & Melbourne might be best served by sea.

Into this jumble will be the decline of air passenger traffic.
The decline of air freight might change the balance also.
That will be followed by an irresistible demand for the VFT.
People like us cannot express an opinion on the viability without
having the freight data and knowledge of the costs.
In the longer term everything will be electrified trains.
There will be no aircraft, possibly not even military aircraft.