[LINK] Australian High Speed Rail Needs the NBN

[Tom Worthington]

The Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese, 
released the report "High Speed Rail Study - Phase One" on 4 August 
2011: http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/rail/trains/high_speed/

This looks at the economic viability of routes for high speed rail on 
the east coast of Australia, from Brisbane to Melbourne, via Sydney and 
Canberra at an estimated cost of $61B to $108B. The first report looks 
at corridors, station locations, cost, number of passengers, social and 
regional benefits. The report is open for comment until the end of 
September.

Report fails to consider NBN synergy with rail

One major failing of the report is that it does not take into account 
the effect the Internet will have on transport and settlement patterns. 
The Australian Government is investing in the NBN, a national fiber 
optic and fixed wireless network. This will allow more flexibility for 
the location of jobs and the provision of services. High speed rail 
could be planned to complement the NBN, allowing new cities to be built 
in inland Australia. The combination of the NBN and high speed rail 
would provide access to jobs and services for cities which would 
otherwise not be economically, or socially, feasible.

Wireless Internet can also be used to increase the allowable travel time 
for high speed rail. Passengers who have access to high speed broadband 
will be willing to have extended travel times as they will be able to be 
entertained, or work, on route. This can lower the cost of the system, 
by reducing the required speed of the trains, reducing the cost of 
infrastructure by tens of billions of dollars. The reduction of rail 
development cost would be sufficient to pay for the entire NBN.

The Internet and high speed rail could also be used to make the delivery 
of goods more environmentally efficient. While high speed rail is 
normally considered for passenger transport, it is also used for the 
transport of high value goods. As an example, the French national 
railways run a fleet of purpose build mail trains "SNCF TGV La Poste": 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNCF_TGV_La_Poste

In the Australian case it is more likely that mail and packages would be 
carried on the rail passenger services, much as mail is transported on 
passenger aircraft. A change is now taking place in the way retail 
purchasing occurs, with good now ordered on-line and delivered. The 
change from air to rail for packages would reduce the environmental 
impact and lower the cost, allowing Australian cites along the routes to 
be serviced more easily.

The combination of the Internet and high speed rail could replace much 
of the expensive infrastructure normally needed for building a city, 
with attractive new settlements built quickly along the rail corridor.

The report

The report was prepared by AECOM Australia Pty Ltd, in association with 
GRIMSHAW Architects, KPMG and SKMA. Oddly for a government report, it is 
copyright AECOM Australia Pty Ltd. This is not in accordance with the 
Australian Government's policy of making documents open access to allow 
free dissemination.

More in my blog at: 
http://blog.tomw.net.au/2011/08/australian-high-speed-rail-needs-nbn.html


-- 
Tom Worthington FACS CP HLM, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150
PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia  http://www.tomw.net.au
Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards 
Legislation

Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science,
Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/
Visiting Scientist, CSIRO ICT Centre: http://bit.ly/csiro_ict_canberra