Labor to push high-speed rail network plan
Print Edition
Australia’s Labor government yesterday pledged to press on with plans for a high-speed rail network linking major east coast cities, saying it would diversify the economy as the mining boom slows.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, battling a strong candidate in conservative opposition leader Tony Abbott in September 7 national polls, has committed to focusing on jobs in the last fortnight of the campaign.
To achieve this, he said, good infrastructure was vital.
“If we do not have world-class infrastructure there is no future for the Australian economy. It’s as basic as that,” he said in Sydney.
“This vast continent of ours has 23 million people on it — unless you’ve got the infrastructure pumping, well frankly it’s not going to work.”
The government allocated A$52 million (US$47 million) to a new authority to oversee the rail project which would stretch down the east coast from Brisbane to Melbourne via Sydney and Canberra.
The government said in April the entire project would cost US$120 billion and take over 40 years to complete.
Transport Minister Anthony Albanese said as a first step the government would enact legislation this year, if re-elected, to preserve the 1,748-kilometer corridor on which the track would be laid.
“This high-speed rail network, connecting our three largest cities and the national capital, forms part of federal Labor’s plan to support jobs beyond the China mining boom,” Albanese and Rudd said in a joint statement.
Albanese said high-speed rail would spur new high-tech supporting industry.
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