The ambitious plan would cut two hours from a popular route but the idea was previously abandoned over fears it could cost more than a hundreds billions dollars.
The Labor government has announced plans to build a high speed rail between Sydney and Newcastle, cutting out two hours of commuting time.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese promised to spend $500 million on the ambitious project if his party won this year’s federal election.
Currently, it takes a passenger two hours and 45 minutes to travel from Newcastle and Sydney or vice versa.
With the proposed faster train, the whole journey would be completed in just 45 minutes, shaving down the time by more than 70 per cent.
The fastest a train can go in Australia at the moment is around 160 kilometres per hour but high speed railways can typically operate at speeds of between 250 and 350 kilometres per hour.
“You’ll be able to jump on the train at 6.30pm and be at Sydney Olympic Park for the start of the Knights game,” Mr Albanese announced on Sunday.
Mr Albanese pledged to residents from NSW’s Hunter Region in the Sunday morning announcement that $500 million would be allocated to the speed rail in his first federal budget.
The cash injection going towards purchasing land, planning and early works of the construction works.
And his ambitions for the future didn’t stop there. The candidate for Prime Minister said this train line would form the first phase of a national rail link ending at Brisbane.
A party press release read: “An Albanese Labor government will establish the High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA) as a statutory agency and issue a clear statement of expectations to the HSRA to begin work on the Sydney to Newcastle corridor as a matter of priority.
“The line would include stops in the Central Coast, with Wyong and Gosford as obvious possibilities.”
It’s not the first time the Labor government has floated the idea.
Back in 2013, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a high speed rail network a cornerstone of his election.
Labor promised to create a railway spanning from Melbourne to Brisbane, with Canberra, Sydney and other region centres serving as stops along the way.
It was expected to cost $114 billion and could take more than a decade to finish building.
When Liberal candidate Tony Abbott won the federal election in 2013, he immediately scrapped the plan.
However, the idea got more airtime in 2019 when Scott Morrison proposed a $2 billion fast train link from Geelong to Melbourne.
The Hunter Valley is known as a swing vote region and is fast becoming a political battlefield for the upcoming election.
During the 2019 federal election, Labor saw a significant shift away in regards to support.
Then in the 2021 Upper Hunter state by-election, Labor suffered another notable swing.
However, Mr Albanese insisted that the train was necessary because the Newcastle population is expected to grow by 200,000 people by 2040.
Originally published as Labor proposes $500m high speed rail for Newcastle to Sydney commute ahead of federal election
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