“What are we missing out on by not having a consistent, on-time, modern and efficient regional rail service?”
Currently Australia’s inter-state and long-distance passenger rail services are well below world standards, except for a few tourist trains such as “The Ghan” and “The Overland”.
There are only 12 daily rail services linking Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Brisbane
Only two daily services in each direction between Melbourne to Sydney
Only one daily service each way Sydney – Brisbane
Only three daily services each way between Sydney and Canberra
Four daily train and coach services operate between Melbourne and Canberra
Twice weekly services are provided between Melbourne and Adelaide using The Overland.
These services are very slow, averaging only around 70-80 km/hr, well below average driving speeds
For example, services between Melbourne and Sydney take 11 hours for the 860 km journey by rail, whereas driving time is more like 9-10 hours on the Hume Highway.
The twice weekly “Overland” train between Melbourne and Adelaide takes 11-12 hours, compared to around 7-8 hours driving time.
There has been no appreciable reduction in travel times on interstate and long-distance trains in Australia in over 60 years (except for some accelerated “Tilt Trains” in Queensland, and some speed increases for regional “VLocity” services in Victoria).
This reflects the lack of upgrades to our main interstate lines, and an unwillingness to introduce tilt trains by NSW Railways. In fact, some current longer distance trains, such as intercity trains between Sydney and Newcastle, are slower than they were in the days of steam in the 1960’s.
Our rail services haven’t improved in 70 years
The Spirit of Progress between Melbourne and Sydney was one of the world’s first air-conditioned trains when introduced in 1937, and was the among the best in train travel at that time.
The “Southern Aurora” introduced a first class, all-sleeper car express service between Melbourne and Sydney in 1962, with full dining car and other facilities.
60 years later, “dining cars” on XPT trains serve only very basic food options, WiFi is still not available, there are very limited overnight sleeper services on inter-capital services, and even these will be discontinued when the new NSW trains are introduced.
The poor quality of our regular interstate services reflects the lack of incentive for NSW Railways, which is responsible for Sydney-Melbourne, Sydney-Canberra and Sydney-Brisbane services, to improve them. For example, the new rollingstock ordered by NSW to replace the XPT’s and Explorer trains are three years late, well over budget, are not tilt trains despite the extremely windy nature of most NSW rail lines, do not include sleeper cars or full dining cars, and will not enable an increase in either the number or the speed of services. The only significant improvement will be the provision of WiFi and more accessible toilets.