Very Fast Train Joint Venture
| Very Fast Train | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Overview | |
| Type | High-speed rail |
| Status | Cancelled |
| Locale |
New South Wales Australian Capital Territory Victoria |
| Termini |
Sydney Melbourne |
| Stations | Sydney Central, Sydney Airport, Campbelltown, Bowral, Goulburn, Canberra, Yass, Wagga Wagga, Albury-Wodonga, Benalla, Seymour, Melbourne Airport, Melbourne Spencer Street |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 854 km (531 mi) |
| Number of tracks | 2 |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) |
| Minimum radius | 7,000 metres (23,000 ft) |
| Operating speed | 350 km/h (220 mph) |
The Very Fast Train (VFT) was a proposed high-speed railway between Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne in south-eastern Australia. Initially conceived by Dr Paul Wild of the CSIRO in 1984, the proposal was adopted by a private-sector joint venture in 1987, comprising Elders IXL, Kumagai Gumi, TNT and BHP. Several major studies were undertaken in the 1980s and early 1990s, which showed the proposal to be both technically and financially feasible.
The VFT attracted widespread support from both the general public and sections of government, but the joint venture folded following the failure to secure a favourable taxation agreement with the Federal Government in late 1991. Other reasons for the scheme's failure were speculated to include a difficult relationship between joint venture members, the deregulation of the Australian airline market, environmental and noise pollution concerns, accusations that the scheme was in fact a disguised land development project, and a lack of planning support from Federal and state governments.
The Very Fast Train remains the most substantial investment into a high-speed rail project in Australia, and the only proposal to involve 100% private funding. Although there have been numerous subsequent studies into high-speed rail since the VFT, none have come as close to realisation. Several of the joint venture members went on to propose additional fast-rail projects during the 1990s, but none passed beyond the planning stage. The name "Very Fast Train" or "VFT" has become a synonym for high-speed rail in Australia, though no subsequent proposal has adopted the terminology.
An Australian high-speed railway was originally conceived by Dr Paul Wild of the CSIRO in the early 1980s. A lifelong train enthusiast, Dr Wild was excited about the highly anticipated introduction of the new XPT rollingstock to the Sydney-Canberra line. An Australian variant of British Rail’s InterCity 125 High Speed Train, the XPT promised a "new rail travel experience". In October 1983, Dr Wild booked a ticket on the first run of the new service from his base in Canberra to a meeting in Sydney. Wild found the XPT disappointing, offering only mild improvements on the existing service. The train only briefly reached its top speed of 160 km/h, was not an express service, and the archaic staff-change at Goulburn was undertaken with "a complete lack of urgency." Dr Wild described the service has having "the leisurely features of a branch-line train". In the end, the service took 4 hours 37 minutes, a dismal 20 minutes longer than scheduled. The average speed of 70.6 kilometres per hour (43.9 mph) was slower than many trains of the steam era.
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