Re: Brief trip report MEL-CBR-MEL and thoughts on 737 vs A320 cabins.

[dbromage@fang.omni.com.au (David Bromage)]

JF Mezei (jfmezei.spamnot@videotron.ca) wrote:
> Dave Proctor wrote:
> > Using a VHST would also take about 3 hours from centre of Sydney to centre
> > of Melbourne, so the time is comparable, but all of that would be usable, as
> > well as all of it being time where mobiles would be usable, laptops would be
> > usable, etc. 

> Will the proponents of such a downtown-downtown high speed route be able to
> secure track rights to the central stations?

Yes. The Rail Access Corporation will allow anybody to run, provided they
are accredited and pay the necessary track access charge. Bearing in mind
that Speedrail would pay for quadrupling from Wolli Creek Junction to East
Hills and tripling East Hills to Glenlee Junction, I doubt RAC would
complain.

> If not, how far out of the
> central station will the dedicated high speed tracks begin,

In Sydney, at Glenlee Junction just south of Campbelltown. This is about
52km from Central via the airport and East Hills lines.

In Canberra, at Mitchell about 10km NW of the airport. Probably at the
junction where it would diverge from the Melbourne line, also the location
of the service centre.

Canberra would not be a through station and only trains stopping in
Canberra would branch at Mitchell.

The terminus would be at the airport in the first instance, although there
is a proposal to extend the line through to Civic, terminating on
Constitution Avenue opposite the National Convention Centre.

       Yass           Goulburn 
 \  <- Albury         Sydney   ->  /
  \    Melbourne                  /
   -------------------------------
               \   /
                \ / <--- TGV service centre
                 |
                 |
                 |
                 |
                  \
                   \ Canberra Airport
                   /
      |------------
   Canberra
  (proposed)

In Melbourne, probably near Sunshine or Albion, or possibly closer to the
airport, where it would join the existing standard gauge line.

> and what will be
> the travel time between the central station and that high speed line?

About 40 minutes to Glenlee.

Some time would be saved over the existing schedules by upgrading Panania
- East Hills and Glenfield - Campbelltown to 160km/h. The Revesby bridge
would also be upgraded to raise the speed from 70 to 115km/h. East Hills -
Glenfield will also be upgraded from 160km/h to (I think) 180km/h.

Cheers
David