Some 34 countries have high-speed rail or are about to get it. Yet since it was for proposed for Australia in 1984, no local plan for high-speed rail has got further than the drawing board.
Anthony Albanese’s plan for high-speed rail between Sydney and Newcastle could well be worth the cost, so long as he doesn’t muddy it with 1970s-style industry policy.
HS2 has been controversial from the outset, not least because experts don’t agree about its benefits. However, canceling the Leeds branch is to the region’s detriment.
Smaller projects are better for delivering broad, long-term value to communities across the country, reducing inequality and cutting emissions, as well as quickly providing jobs and economic stimulus.
The federal opposition’s idea for a bullet train from Melbourne to Brisbane is not a good use of a generation’s worth of infrastructure spending. It won’t even work as an economic stimulus.
Building infrastructure takes time. To develop sustainable transportation, Canada needs to invest in high-quality infrastructure that will enable us to make environmentally friendly travel choices.