High-speed rail link between Melbourne and Sydney proposed by private company: VIDEO
High-speed rail link between Melbourne and Sydney proposed by private company
It has been talked about for decades, but a private company has launched a $200 billion plan to build a high-speed rail link between Melbourne and Sydney.
Consolidated Land and Rail Australia (CLARA) has publicly released its proposal to build the rail link, which would include eight stops and plans for new regional cities along the route.
CLARA's co-founder and chairman Nick Cleary said deals to secure almost half the private land needed for the project had already been struck.
"They're multi-year option agreements and they give us legal control over the land that we're talking about," he said.
"It's about hitting certain milestones which will trigger other parts of those agreements to be released.
"I take the point that it's been around for a long time, a proposal to build high-speed rail between Sydney and Melbourne, but our plan is about decentralisation. It's actually a cities plan."
He said an express service between Sydney and Melbourne would be about an hour and 50 minutes.
"And even if it had to stop at all stops, it could still do it in around two hours, 45 minutes," he said.
CLARA's board includes representatives from the public and private sectors in the United States, as well as former Australian premiers Steve Bracks and Barry O'Farrell and former trade minister Andrew Robb.
The company is backed with funds from Australia and the US.
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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-07-14/new-plan-for-high-speed-rail-link-between-melbourne-and-sydney/7628316
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