Some sceptics have called it a “pipedream” and a “political ploy”, while others believe it will never happen in their lifetime.
But, The Nationals Leader David Littleproud fully supports a high-speed rail link between Newcastle and Sydney.
With another election looming, possibly in May, the current Labor Government made a $500 million commitment to the build, which will connect the two cities in about an hour.
It also allows for extensions to Canberra, Melbourne and Brisbane down the track.
Already, a High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) is operational, with an office located in the heart of Newcastle.
It followed the continued digging of 27 boreholes between the two locales to gain an understanding of the geological conditions of the intended route.
Established factors of the project include trains capable of travelling up to 320 km/h, featuring on-board wi-fi, food and beverage options, luggage storage and pet-friendly areas, too.
“We’re not against high-speed rail… in fact, I think the Newcastle to Sydney leg is where you would start,” Mr Littleproud said during a visit to the region this week.
“What you need to do is build the fundamentals to support it.
“And, you can’t do high-speed rail without base load power.
“There are no countries achieving that with renewables and the batteries that last 20-30 minutes.
“You must have base load power.
“So, our first step is to make sure you underpin it with the fundamentals and then obviously work through that.
“However, I believe it is something that should be on the agenda for the nation to consider.
“It would also give some competition to the air sector, which has been lacking for some time.”
An $80 million business case was presented to Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King before Christmas.
But, Mr Littleproud admitted he had not seen hide nor hair of it.
“Unfortunately, Catherine is still playing around with it,” he said.
“She spent half a billion dollars on a lot of studies… now, we want to see how it looks for the nation’s future, and if it can and will work.
“When you talk to the people of Newcastle, the existing services are just not up to scratch.
“That’s why I think if you go down this path, and it gets the proof of concept confirmed, you can move from there, however only if you’ve got the base load power to achieve it.
“We totally understand a lot of taxpayer money has already been spent.
“So, we’re not walking away from it.
“I mean, there’s work of governments of all persuasions that you should draw on.
“My mind’s open to it… definitely.
“It’s something that when you go around the world, and see other countries being able to achieve it, we should consider it as well.
“And, it makes sense to look at Newcastle to Sydney.
“However, we’re a long way off until we can say that we can power it because we can’t do that on an all-renewables approach.”
Ms King also reinforced Labor was resolute to bring high-speed rail between Newcastle and Sydney.
“This is a massive undertaking,” she said.
“It’s not something that we just suddenly go and say ‘here’s a press release’ and then walk away.
“What we’ve done is we’ve committed to the business case that’s been developed, the geotechnical work, to really get a deep understanding about how we build this, what’s the engineering that’s going to be needed, and then trying to work out exactly what the best costings are.
“Infrastructure Australia is looking at the business case at the moment.
“Of course, there’ll be work we’ll need to do in terms of getting planning approvals, environmental approvals and land acquisition.
“That will be the next stage that we’ll look at, to see where the timing is, and then we’ll make some investment decisions about it.
“But, we’re very determined to get this done.
“I also don’t want to pretend that you’re going to see shovels in the ground immediately because that’s been the mistake that we’ve made in the past with infrastructure projects.
“We’re trying to make sure we get everything lined up properly – planning approvals, land acquisition, understanding the geotechnical work and, of course, the cost.
“It’ll be very expensive, however it’s time for high-speed rail to come.”
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