Electric trains use seven times less carbon dioxide than cars. With careful planning, railways could drastically cut emissions from a sector that now accounts for a quarter of the carbon in our air.
Installing light rail is costly, as Sydney has found, but it’s the gold standard for public transport along road corridors. What trackless trams can do is rapidly expand such services at low cost.
In Victoria, the Andrews government’s level crossing removal project has lifted property prices by up to 28% around sites where work has been completed.
Tracey Nearmy/AAP
Value capture depends on infrastructure increasing the value of affected areas in the first place. Victoria’s level crossing removal project shows the impact on property values can be significant.
While governments focus on how to ease congestion and make affordable housing more accessible for workers in our biggest cities, fast rail could be a mixed blessing for regional cities.
Pedestrians walking along Bridge Street to Erskineville station in Sydney could take advantage of an extra southern entrance, as could many people now choosing not to catch the train.
Chris Standen, used with permission
In Sydney, 44 of 178 train stations have a single side entrance. It adds up to 12 minutes of daily travel time for people walking the long way to their platform. It’s enough to make some drive instead.
Despite boasts of ‘record’ infrastructure spending, relative to GDP it’s comparable to previous budgets. What’s different is that Treasurer Frydenberg has chanced his arm more over the longer term.
The Northeast Corridor sees millions of riders a year, but expanding rail in the U.S. is always fraught.
Loco Steve
Rail advocates often make the case that trains are a cleaner mode of transportation, but why is that so? And what would it take to expand rail in the U.S.?
Commuters at Epping train station board replacement buses during work on the line for the Sydney Metro, the biggest of all the promised projects.
Mick Tsikas/AAP
The major parties are promising projects costing tens of billions of dollars, with a surprisingly large overlap between them. Yet only two have been endorsed by infrastructure authorities.
In rankings of Sydney railway stations with the most passengers and fastest growth, Bankstown line stations are way down the list.
Dan Himbrechts/AAP
Every major transport study since the 1970s has identified Sydney’s western rail corridor as the priority for an upgrade. The latest patronage figures confirm that’s where the need is greatest.
Transport promises stretching as far as the eye can see: Victorian Labor’s big one is a $A50 billion suburban rail loop.
Penny Stephens/AAP
Whichever party wins, Victoria’s new government will have promised the biggest transport infrastructure project in Australian history. So what are the promises and are they backed by proper assessment?
The spectacular view of the tourist town of Pokhara, one of the places that could be connected by a trans-Himalaya rail line.
Author provided
Regional areas are expanding, and yet not enough attention is being paid to improving rail access to capital cities. This affects the liveability of the areas.
High-speed rail for Australia has been on the drawing boards since the mid-1980s but has come to nothing. Three states are developing medium-speed rail with federal funding, but NSW is missing out.
In a pre-election budget, we can expect infrastructure politics to triumph over policy, yet again.
Julian Smith/AAP