The NSW government is in the process of replacing the existing XPTs, Xplorers, and Endeavour railcars. These are used on regional routes in NSW, and a couple of interstate routes (Melbourne and Brisbane).

As things stand, the replacements will not allow any improvement in travel times. I have been trying to push the goverment to obtain tilt trains, which could reduce journey times without requiring huge investment in track. On the route to Armidale, the reduction could be almost three hours.

But no one seems to care. Although I have a reasonable hit rate with letters to newspapers, this drops to zero when I mention trains. Even the Armidale Express newspaper seems uninterested. Posts to relevant Facebook groups go unanswered.

So what is the problem here? Have people heard so much about trains over the years, and seen so little progress, that they just don't believe, and consequently can't be bothered?

Is the government only interested in promoting big ticket items, such as "Fast Regional Trains" which are actually only aimed at increasing Sydney's commuter catchment area, and which will probably be determined to be uneconomic anyway, which means they won't cost anything?

It's a shame, because if we accept that high speed trains in Australia won't happen in the forseeable future, and probably never as regards smaller regional centres, then we could gradually improve the existing services, to the point where they would actually be faster than going by road, certainly more comfortable, and a lot safer.

But, as I said, no one (well, no one apart from me), seems to care.

Sylvia,

You're up against NSW; Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong.

See the recent 'success' story of Driverless Trains in Sydney, the big success is that the Government has got rid of some more jobs.

What makes you think the reduction in journey time on the Armidale line could be almost three hours?

And why do you accept that high speed trains in Australia won't happen in the foreseeable future?

For the cost of one high speed train we could probably get 10 new lines & more reliable service over a wider area. If you feel a need for speed, fly !

You got it right, Sylvia - only three people so far care "care about trains".

Aidan, I used Google Earth to determine the radius of every significant curve on the track between Hornsby and Armidale, and 318 of them. Then I created a simulation program that took into account the capabilities of tilt trains in Europe, together with the acceleration and braking performance of the diesel VLocity trains from Victoria, and assumed that the new trains would stop at the same places as the existing trains. The time from Hornsby to Armidale comes out at 4 hours 43 minutes, instead of the current 7 hours 32 minutes.

Not all of this is down to the tilt train. I've also assumed that trains will run at the speeds they're capable of, up to 160km/h, which appears to be the standard that the Australian Rail Track Corporation are maintaining track to. The NSW government would have to chip in on the maintanance of the track they're responsible for beyond Werris Creek, and there are some issues to do with level crossings, but nothing that cannot be dealt with over a period of time if the will exists.

As for why I don't believe we'll see fast trains in NSW, a fast train has to reach Sydney, or the traffic can't justify it, but the Sydney basin is very difficult when it comes to trains - in every direction, the topography is horrible, and a fast train would require large numbers of cuttings, embankments, tunnels and bridges, which pushes the cost sky high. This is one reason we see endless studies, but no actual construction. I've no doubt that the current " NSW fast rail network" proposal will be another that never gets past the study phase. "Study" is government code for "We want you think we're doing something, but we've no intention of paying for it."