The VFT

The VFT consortium was formed in 1986. It consisted of BHP, TNT, Elders and Kumagai Gumi. The proposal was for a high speed railway between Sydney and Melbourne via Canberra and East Gippsland. The cost was to be $5 billion. Trains would operate at up to 350km/h, and journey times would be 1 hour from Sydney to Canberra and 2 hours from Canberra to Melbourne.

Two routes were proposed. First, a coastal route via Cooma, and second an inland route via Albury.

Notional VFT timetable for the coastal route.

Bibliography

VFT Concept Report, VFT Consortium, December 1988.
The Very Fast Train Project and Information Survey of Potential Environmental Impacts: East Gippsland Section, CSIRO Division of Wildlife and Ecology, July 1989.
VFT, focus for the future : a progress report, October 1989, VFT Consortium. ISBN 1875330003.
Technocratic Dreaming : of very fast trains and Japanese designer cities, Edited by Paul James, Left Book Club, Melbourne, 1990. ISBN 1875285032.
VFT Project Evaluation, November 1990.
Aspects of the proposal for a very fast train (final report), Parliamentary paper (Australian Parliament); 1991, no. 463, Senate Standing Committee on Transport, Communications and Infrastructure, March 1991.
Three Major Rail Proposals : papers presented to EPAC, by Alan Castleman, The Hon. Marshall Perron, Dr. D.G. Williams with a respose by Roger Beale, Discussion Paper 91/07, Economic Planning Advisory Council, August 1991.

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