Options for a Sydney-Melbourne Very Fast Train

The flight between Australia's two largest cities - Sydney and Melbourne, with populations of approximately 5 million each - is the fifth busiest passenger air routes in the world. 9.3 passengers flew between the two cities in 2023. Unlike all of the other top ten flight routes, Sydney and Melbourne are not separated by water, and the distance between them is relatively short at 705 kilometres (438 miles). This is especially short compared to the vast landmass of Australia. Given the currently unavoidable impact of air travel on greenhouse gas emissions, rail services can provide an important alternative to transport large groups of people at speed over hundreds of kilometres overland, with fewer long-term environmental impacts. However, overland travel options between Sydney and Melbourne are currently limited. The state-operated NSW TrainLink runs a twice-daily "XPT" (Express Passenger Train) service, but the travel time is approximately 11 hours, which is slower than the 9 hours it takes to travel between the cities by car. These services only carry a small number of carriages with sleeper beds, and there are concerns for safety when travelling at high speeds on the aging track infrastructure, demonstrated most recently by a derailment at Wallan, Victoria in February 2020 which killed two people. One novel challenge for a high-speed rail connection between Sydney and Melbourne is the Australian Alps, a rare mountainous area in an otherwise largely flat continent that lies between the cities. The current railway network noticeably detours to the north of this mountain range, passing through the towns of Yass, Cootamundra, and Wagga Wagga before continuing south to the Victorian border at Albury-Wodonga. Suggested Options: A: Express on current track. Run a very fast train along the existing tracks, but only stop at towns with populations of 40,000 or more. This reduces the number of stops from 18, to 3: Bowral-Mittagong, Wagga Wagga, and Albury-Wodonga. B: Section of new track between Yass and Albury, navigating through the Snowy Mountains whilst bypassing Wagga Wagga C: Sydney-Canberra line connects to existing line at Albury with a 43km tunnel underneath the Snowy Mountains between Canberra and Tumut D: As in C, but with a new more direct line between Goulburn and Canberra E: New line connecting Canberra with Yass, allowing direct travel to/from Melbourne, including from/to Sydney via Canberra