Re: VFT rumblings

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

A few more thoughts. 

Capital Rail proposed using the Adtranz X2000 tilt train, which would be
suitable for Sydney to Canberra but not really for Sydney to Melbourne. 

Ditto the Siemens ICT (220km/h tilting ICE) proposed by Inter Capital
Express. A Siemens engineer said on 2NC yesterday that if Melbourne had
been part of the original tender they would have chosen another train from
the Siemens fleet. I assume this would have been the 330km/h ICE3.

Transrapid can't even built Sydney to Canberra with its allocated $4
billion. The current cost of a maglev line is 15 million ECU (A$27.2
million) per km. $4 billion would only get them 147km from Sydney. Sydney
to Canberra would cost around $7.5 billion for track alone, and Sydney to
Melbourne would be in the vicinity of $24.5 billion!

The current cost of a track built to the standard of the TGV Nord-Europe
is about 5 million ECU (A$9 million) per km. Based on Speedrail's mention
of 220km of new track from Campbelltown to Canberra, that would cost $1.98
billion. Allowing for the slightly higher running speed, my guess would be
about $2.2 billion. That still leaves $200 million in their quote for
rollingstock and sundries. Sydney to Melbourne via Canberra would cost a
total of about $8.1 billion. 

Cheers
David