Also, the Melbourne-Sydney and Sydney-Brisbane lines are slow. They were built for feeble Victorian-era steam traction, and wind around hills to avoid gradients. Straighten some of the curves out, and you’d shave a few hours off the journey.

Not enough to justify scrapping sleeper trains, though: it’d still take a good 8+ hours to do Melbourne-Sydney. Though a hypothetical high-speed rail line could do the journey in 3 hours, and while it would take several generations to realistically build one in Australia, one could incrementally upgrade the existing lines, picking off the low-hanging fruit of slow curves and then replacing entire segments with high-speed ones and running classic-compatible trains along the network.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

@AllNewTypeFace @Tau A similar problem with US northeast corridor rail: old track design, curves, lack of funding or availability of right of way to build modern infrastructure with gentle curves supporting higher speeds. Geography combined with buildings and 100 year old development that can’t be easily changed.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

nah, if it was on the agenda ot would happen. the US doesn't have any problem displacing poor people and spending trillions. this type of project would hurt auto and air travel too much to be really considered

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

@lntl Considering how big corporations (including airlines) lobby in Washington…true. Amtrak can’t get any adequate funding, compare that to the FAA budget that provides air traffic control services in the US (as shaky as that is even).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Australia has it easier, as most of the land is rural or undeveloped. But then again, it’s Australia, a country where the unofficial national motto is “she’ll be right mate”. We don’t really do long-term planning there.