The Federal Government’s senior bureaucrat on High Speed Rail has urged regional communities to band together to lobby for High Speed Rail.
Speaking at a High Speed Rail forum in Canberra on September 1, jointly hosted by Regional Development Australia (ACT) and Canberra Business Council, General Manager of High Speed Rail with the Federal Department of Infrastructure and Transport, Richard Farmer, said regional centres should “come together” to state their case.
“”High Speed Rail gives you great choices about where you work, live, and where and how you travel. The Government is welcoming comments and feedback from communities and regional interest groups as we prepare to launch into our 12 month long Phase 2 study into HSR. If it (HSR) gets the green light, there will be a phased rollout and the opportunity is there to lobby for the final corridor and for which sections of track are built first,” Mr Farmer said.
Concentrating on Canberra, he noted the report’s projections indicated that by 2036 there could be more than 10 million movements of High Speed Rail in and out of the national capital.
More than 130 people attended the lunchtime forum at The Realm to hear dynamic presentations from ACT Government (represented by the Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Economic Development, Andrew Barr), the Federal Government and Spanish HSR operator RENFE.
RENFE’s head of Strategic Projects, Daniel Freire, said the Spanish experience had not only shown the economic benefits of High Speed Rail but that it was also “helping bring people and communities closer”. He referred to the historic rivalry between Madrid and Barcelona – particularly over football – claiming very fast train trips between the two cities meant attitudes were changing.
As well as the strong ACT business representation at the Forum, many regional centres surrounding Canberra and down into Victoria were represented – Cooma, Tumut, Queanbeyan, Wagga Wagga, Shepparton, Goulburn, Bungendore and Wollongong.
Regional Development Australia (Riverina) Chair Tom Watson: “Any proposal with the potential to improve access to regional areas for people living in cities and vice versa is to be welcomed. High Speed Rail improves connectivity between metropolitan and regional centres. It shrinks both time and distance.”
Regional Development Australia (Hume) Deputy Chair Jim O’Connor: “This will come through the RDA Hume corridor for sure, win, lose or draw, meaning you could potentially take a job in Albury and live in Shepparton… If we want to take some of the pressure off Sydney and Melbourne which are reaching their limits of sustainability, we have to make these alternative transport and growth corridors available.”
Regional Development Australia (Sydney) Project Development Manager Mark Wigley: “There’s great potential for collaboration here between RDAs and regional communities. The (HSR) project as a whole is extremely important.”
To view the Federal Government’s Phase One Report into High Speed Rail click HERE . To send through feedback on the Report or for more government information on the project email highspeedrailstudy@infrastructure.gov.au
Attending the High Speed Rail forum in Canberra (from left) John Vucic - Cooma Monaro Shire Council, Sue Whelan - South East Australian Transport Strategy (SEATS), Daniel Freire - Spanish Rail Operator RENFE, Craig Sloan - Regional Development Australia ACT
RDAs uniting to lobby for High Speed Rail (from left) Jim O'Connor - RDA Hume, Colin McLean - RDA Southern Inland, David Gregory - RDA ACT, Mark Wigley - RDA Sydney
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