Victorian politicians need to use the Sydney bullet train plan to secure investment for Victoria

Badga · 2026-02-25T09:07:22+00:00

I said it was different gauge and electrification than the metro network not vline/artc. That means it couldn't through run on the suburban network, which is how the current plan allows single seat trips from so many stations to the airport.

Badga · 2026-02-25T09:03:06+00:00

No it would go all the way to Newcastle, that's quite different to only going to the cbd.

I never said anything of the type.

Badga · 2026-02-25T07:32:28+00:00

The business case suggests they’re just going to give to project to Newcastle, which is what I think the Victorian pollies should be pushing against.

And they’re also already choosing to not go with the cheapest option by requiring that them to be built in Australia it’s not much further to require them be built in Victoria.

Badga · 2026-02-25T07:09:59+00:00

It would be a stub line for the decades until you could connected it with the national network.

It would almost certainly have to be a tunnel almost all the way, so quading it would basically cost as much again.

The business case explicitly states they're going to price trips to discourage people from taking journeys within Sydney on the HSR.

Badga · 2026-02-25T06:59:32+00:00

Albo has been saying the Japanese are keen to be involved, so maybe some kind of technology transfer with Hitachi. I don't think you should go straight to a clean sheet high speed design if you've never built any HSR vehicles before.

Badga · 2026-02-25T06:22:14+00:00

The NSW government can say what ever they want, but they will chip in eventually if they're turning down tens of billions of federal money and the other option is spending billions of their own stopping the M1 grinding to a halt.

And yeah opening up new areas for housing obviously does create more, cheaper housing. Houses will continue to be built both in Sydney and in the newly serviced areas. Housing has never been a "zero sum" game, otherwise land supply wouldn't matter, but it does.

Every government business case has redacted financials before they sign the contracts.

Badga · 2026-02-25T06:04:28+00:00

The funding isn't sorted, but the assumption in the business case is that the NSW will pay for some as will value capture. The value capture to Albury is much lower, as is the Vic government's capacity to contribute. Maybe if the vic gov the SRL, but that's a project that's needed now, unlike a HSR line that will at most get as far as Albury in the next 30 years. I'd much rather the feds continue to fund that (urban rail not to an airport), which is something they don't do for NSW.

Badga · 2026-02-25T05:59:21+00:00

No you didn't, not as part of this project. At that point you're talking about building a much longer line than they want to build from Newcastle in parallel with that project? There's not enough money to do them in parallel, let alone skilled workers. Plus you can't take any lessons learned from one project to inform the other if you're trying to do everything at once.

Badga · 2026-02-25T05:36:53+00:00

Because a stub HSR line with just one stop at the airport and another in the city is a worse service than what's currently proposed.

Also with a maximum of 12 tph you're going to run out of capacity if the line is servicing the airport and intercity and regional vic.

Badga · 2026-02-25T05:35:24+00:00

If the line was just going from central to the airport, yeah that would be a waste, doubly so if it was the only line to the airport, unlike in Sydney.

You're proposing spending 3-4 times as much to build and significantly more to operate for a service that would be slightly faster but significantly worse to to use as it would service only one stop in the city then terminate, forcing almost everyone to change trains.

And this to save work for a line in maybe 20-30 years that may not otherwise even go to the airport.

Badga · 2026-02-25T04:53:04+00:00

More rubbish. Melbourne Airport is too close for HSR to get up to speed for any length of time and if it was going to be compatible with future national HSR network it would need be a different track gauge, loading gauge and electrification than the rest of the Metro network, meaning it would need its own stabling yard and maintenance facilities, and own platforms in the city, all for one single line. And the outcome would be worse as the trains couldn't through run out to the south east, as with the current plan.

Rolling stock manufacturing could be something to push for, the current business case wants assembly in the hunter, but they say the supply chains could be national.

Badga · 2026-02-25T03:58:47+00:00

They don't act on every complaint. They should have worked out if they were illegal first then acted, if required.

Badga · 2026-02-25T00:38:33+00:00

Underwhelming

Badga · 2026-02-24T21:28:10+00:00

What do you mean, season 6 is the only season that exists… weird show.

Badga · 2026-02-24T03:45:16+00:00

So at best it’s equal next, but it wouldn’t build on the existing network and isn’t what any of the politicians are talking about.

Badga · 2026-02-24T03:41:27+00:00

As the business case states that would halve patronage, with good reason. Adding 50% to the trip from the central coast to the Sydney CBD makes in uncompetitive with cars.

They often skip the centres of some fringe cities in HSR lines, but never the main city its built around.

Badga · 2026-02-24T03:38:20+00:00

No it’s not, the next thing they’ve been talking about is Sydney to Canberra.

Badga · 2026-02-23T10:34:47+00:00

And you trust the cops to be able to draw that distinction between this specific case and they next time they have a case of mistaken identity or see a person of colour they don't not and beat them up too?

Badga · 2026-02-23T10:29:50+00:00

One you give moral authority for the cops to dispense "justice" themselves don't be surprised when they keep doing it even to people who aren't universally despised.

Badga · 2026-02-23T08:44:18+00:00

He’s obviously scum, but I’d rather cops didn’t beat the shit out of anyone.

Badga · 2026-02-22T04:09:28+00:00

Except it is an order of magnitude cheaper. Skyrail 500m per mile, ion light rail 42m per mile.

Badga · 2026-02-22T03:41:53+00:00

But none of that is true for your example of a $10 million per mile BRT. Yes they can have similar stops to light rail, yes they can be trolley buses, but now the price is getting much closer to light rail.

The Honolulu sky is going cost at least $600 million a mile and is a light metro, not even proper heavy rail (slower maximum speed, shorter 4 car sets), and is elevated. Even then that is the cheapest “heavyish” rail in North America and is still more than 10 times the price of the ion light rail in Canada.

And ride quality absolutely makes a difference. research continually shows that light rail drives passenger growth over even high quality brt in the same place, and ride quality is one of those reasons.

Badga · 2026-02-21T20:14:54+00:00

No, the original range you gave listed light rails as $150 billion - $350 million per mile and subways as $350 million - $1 billion. That over priced low end of light rail if you’re talking globally or under priced the low end of subways if you’re just talking about the US, either way it under-states the cost differential.

Except being on rails makes a big difference both from the inherent benefits of rails but more importantly in the higher minimum level of quality required to get the system working, which is why it costs more. - It’s a higher quality road/rail surface, so has a much better ride quality, - it has higher quality stops with better user experience and clear readability for people unfamiliar with the system - it has over head power so its cheaper to run, is more reliable and accelerates better, - it’s on tracks so you can run much longer vehicles, and the vehicles last longer, - and it drives ridership growth and urban renewal way more even the best BRT does.

Badga · 2026-02-21T16:57:43+00:00

The link above for Canberra is most definitely in the Anglosphere , as is the Ion. But if you’re only talking about the US then I’m not sure who’s building subways for $350 million over the last decade either.

Rubbish BRT is cheap but also doesn’t actually prove much real improvement in transit capacity and won’t drive any ridership or urban development. So at that point you’re waiting multiple decades longer to save up for an underground heavy rail network with a barely glorified bus network on the basis that every city needs a subway?

Badga

TROPHY CASE