Re: VFT/VHST - third time lucky?

["Peter Berrett" <pberrett@optushome.com.au>]

Colin Weaver <colingw@my-deja.com> wrote in message
91k155$qq9$1@nnrp1.deja.com">news:91k155$qq9$1@nnrp1.deja.com...
> In article <91jul4$2ub6$1@pc1762.alcatel.com.au>,
>   thebaron@nospam.ozemail.com.au wrote:
> > Most people here seem to be pushing the high speed passenger option to
> > the south and writing off the north. However if you've been on the

I think that the focus should be neither north or south but rather west.

Adelaide and Melbourne are two of our closest capital cities and it seems to
me that if you want to get the political will for high speed train travel
you have to start with the simpler option and build from there. The other
cities are further apart and that means more $$$ to build and longer travel
times.

The beauty of the Adelaide to Melbourne route is that you can link the two
cities in a reasonable time using medium speed eg
225 kmh trains. That should translate to a city to city express of around
about 3 hours which should be competitive with air. City centre to city
centre the time would be competitive and the train would be able to offer
higher standards of service due to increased room. Adelaide has 1-1.5
million people and Melbourne has in excess of 3 million people so finding
passengers should not be too difficult - particularly if there's a footy
game on in the other city.

Once such a service proved successful I believe it would spur on development
elsewhere in Australia. Given that the Victorian Govt has indicated that it
will fund high speed rail to Geelong and Ballarat, part of the cost is
already accounted for as well.

cheers Peter