High Speed Rail is modern passenger trains that have the capacity to move at an average speed of 250km/h or more, on purpose-built tracks. The Shinkansen in Japan, the French TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) and the German ICE (Inter-City Express) are just some of the example of High Speed Rail. Currently there are new railways under construction or being planned in countries including China, Portugal, Russia, Vietnam, United States, and India. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the feasibility of this infrastructure in Australia, specifically focusing on a high speed railway line between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. From the analysis, the paper will argue that High Speed Rail is not a suitable mode of transportation in Australia. The paper will first providing some background information on high speed rail related economic factors following by analysis that put forward arguments that highlight the negative impact that the construction of the speed rail infrastructure will have on the country. The construction of a High Speed Rail has been on the national agenda since 1981(Williams, 1998). In recent the years the desire for a High Speed Rail between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane has grown steadily. This is mainly driven by the increase air travel between Melbourne and Sydney, which is currently the fourth busiest air service in the world, with some 70 flights each way per day between the two cities. In addition air travel between Sydney and Brisbane is the seventh busiest in the Asia/Pacific region (Canberra Business Council 2008). Furthermore, statistics released by the Department of Infrastructure and Transport (2009) shows that the high demand in air travel has caused inconsolably airport congestion and resulted ... ... middle of paper ... ...ing Herald, viewed 3 May 2010, http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/a-very-fast-train-is-a-model-of-sustainability-20100326-r2cv.html Pearce, D & Warford, J 1993, World without End: Economics, Environment, and Sustainable Development, Oxford University Press, New York. Saulwick, J 2010, 'High speed rail between Sydney and Melbourne too expensive', The Sydney Morning Herald, viewed 3 May 2011, < http://www.smh.com.au/national/highspeed-rail-too-costly-study-finds-20100927-15u5s.html>. UIC 2008, High Speed Rail: Fast Track to Sustainable Mobility, UIC, Paris, viewed 3 May 2011, < http://www.uic.org/IMG/pdf/20101124_uic_brochure_high_speed.pdf>. Williams, P 1998, 'Australian Very Fast Trains-A Chronology', Economics, Commerce and Industrial Relations Group, Canberra, viewed 28 April 2011, < http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bp/1997-98/98bp16.htm#INTRO>.
When time came to build the transcontinental railroads, the government had given about 150 millions of acres of land for the railroad development, which would greatly influence transporta...
Ponting, Clive. Ch.11 from "A Green History of the World," St. Martins Press, NYC, 1991
WriteWork. "The 19th Century 'Railroad Boom.'" WriteWork . N.p., 1 May 2003. Web. 28 Feb. 2011.
...g I can use for my final paper when I include evidence about the environmental impacts of the trains on the city. I also liked this source because of how it talks about these organizations competing to bring more money into the city, which shows that they are positively impacting Chicago's economy.
The growth of the railroads would then lead to the improvement of the transportation networks. Moreover, it was obvious that the railroad system would be a large structural, engineering and financial feat and given Canada was not in the best position to afford such a system, “the promoters [of the railway, therefore] turned to Britain” and the United States for help in funding the railway system (including the Grand Trunk Railway and the Victoria Bridge). Given Canada’s economy was not strong enough to fund the entire railway system, they scrambled for capital to finance it and politicians also passed laws that guaranteed companies who invested in them would be funded.
The growth of the railroad was one of the most significant elements in American economic growth, yet it hurt small shippers and farmers in many ways. Extreme competition between rail companies necessitated some way to win business. To do this, railroads would offer rebates and drawbacks to larger shippers who used their rails. This practice hurt smaller shippers, including farmers, because often times railroad companies would charge more to ship products short distances than they would for long trips. This is known as the “long haul, short haul evil”.
International passenger traffic to and from Australia in December 2103 was carried by forty-eight international airlines that were in operation in that month, offering seats to over three million passengers. The number of realised passengers represents a growth of 7.8% over the number of booked seats in December 2012 (BITRE, 2014). Passenger utilisation however is on the decline, with December 2013 passenger utilisation being 80.2%, a fall from 82.4% at the same time the previous year (BITRE, 2014).
Voinovich, George V. ?Federal highway spending needs to be road less traveled.? Insight on the News Jan 6, 1997: 29.
Vadney, T.E. (1998), The World since 1945: The Complete History of Global Change from 1945 to the End of the Twentieth Century. 3rd edn. London: Penguin.
Rudel, K. Thomas, J. Timmons Roberts and JoAnn Carmin. 2011. “Political Economy of the Environment.” Annual Review of Sociology 37: 221-238.
In January of 2010, the Legislative Council have eventually approved the funding for the construction of Guandzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link (XRL), which costs $66.9 billion. This astronomical cost raised a lot of discussions that whether the railway worthed it or not. The whole alignment of the XRL railway is about 140 kilometres with its intermediate stations in Humen, Longhua and Futian. Some have argued that the new railway could contribute to Hong Kong's short-term and long-term development. Others have argued that the whole construction was unnecessary and it costed too much, which made the controversy. The concept of 'worthy or not' is a complex one and actually depends on what people valued. In 2009, there were about 6607 people crossing the border between the Mainland and Hong Kong by MTR's trains, while that of using two crossing-border rail lines through Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau were about 278960. Is this huge amount of people who cross the border oftenly going to use the new line? It seems to me that the negative problems brought by the new line may be more than ...
Australia has had one of the most outstanding economies of the world in recent years - competitive, open and vibrant. The nation’s high economic performance stems from effective economic management and ongoing structural reform. Australia has a competitive and dynamic private sector and a skilled, flexible workforce. It also has a comprehensive economic policy framework in place. The economy is globally competitive and remains an attractive destination for investment. Australia has a sound, stable and modern institutional structure that provides certainty to businesses. For long time, Australia is a stable democratic country with strong growth, low inflation and low interest rate.(Ning)
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s (ABC) news article titled, “Petrol price soars, more pain at the pump ahead,” discusses the rise in the price of fuel and its effect on Australian motorists. This article also discusses how this rise in the price of fuel occurred, mainly focusing on its effect on consumers (Janda 2014).
MacKenzie, John M. and Richards, Jeffrey. The Railway Station, A Social History. Oxford University Press, Oxford. 1986.
“In Australia, researchers Hirsch and Thompson (2011) identified eight factors that may influence the perception of rail crowding: (1) expectations based on previous travel experiences. (2) Environment, which includes weather (for example, perceived crowding would be overweighted in rainy conditions), and carriage, such as the quality of the air conditioning system, air flow within the carriage, the presence and design of handholds for standing passengers, the seating layout and arrangement, the cleanliness of the carriage. (3) Communication—poor quality of information provided...