Australia a step closer to its first high speed rail network

An Australian-first high speed rail network connecting major cities Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney is a step closer to becoming a reality on Thursday, as private company Consolidated Land and Rail Australia (CLARA) Pty Ltd. prepares to submit an ambitious proposal to the government.

CLARA believes a high speed network, which would reportedly connect Melbourne with Sydney in less than three hours, would cost 150 billion U.S dollars, but has said the government - and the taxpayer - won't need to pay a cent.

The proposal, to be tabled on Thursday, has suggested the 'construction' of six new "advanced, sustainable, smart cities" along the train's future corridor in Victoria and New South Wales (NSW), with the windfall from home and land sales to fund the project through "value capture".

CLARA has reportedly already begun signing land deals near population centers in regional Australia so the cities can be constructed.

According to CLARA's website, the company "has the land" for the new cities, and there should not be any need to "call on taxpayer funding".

"CLARA's pre-feasibility business model has the city sites and rail infrastructure being privately funded through the use of land value capture," the website says.

"Unlike other proposals for high speed rail in the past, CLARA's infrastructure can be paid for from the city development rather than from government coffers."

Company chairman Nick Cleary told News Corp on Thursday the profit margin from selling developed land in the new cities would mostly pay for the rail network. He said land which is, for example, purchased by CLARA for roughly 750 U.S dollars per lot, could be sold for 120,000 U.S dollars once developed.

CLARA believes they can sell the developed land for such a profit margin when key infrastructure such as roads, schools, supermarkets and healthcare is constructed in the high-tech cities.

While no government funding has been requested by CLARA, Cleary said it was important for all levels of government to assist the company in planning the cities.

"What we really need is the assistance to plan out these communities to secure the corridors of the rail which state governments have to do," Cleary said.

"We are under no illusions as to how difficult it is, and we are buoyed by the fact that both Commonwealth and state government are open to enter into co-ordinated discussions."

He said if the local, state and federal governments can work together to support CLARA's pitch, construction on the corridor could begin within five years, while the first of the new cities could be "online" within a decade.

Both sides of politics have previously been vocal in support of high-speed rail in Australia; former Prime Ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard both set aside funding for a fast train, but cost blowouts abruptly ended any Commonwealth-funded plan. Incumbent PM Malcolm Turnbull has also said he would support a privately-funded project such as the one proposed by CLARA.

Currently Australia is the only continent aside from Antarctica not to have its own high-speed rail network, despite the vast and empty landscape.

A high-speed rail network would ease air congestion between Australia's two most populous cities Melbourne and Sydney; currently it is the fourth-busiest air route in the world. Endit