Andrew Lezala's high-speed rail concept. Source: Herald Sun
ELEVATED tracks alongside freeway emergency lanes could be the way to make high-speed rail viable in Australia, Metro CEO Andrew Lezala says.
There is no point considering high-speed rail unless it can be built for $10 million a kilometre - very cheap by overseas standards - he insists.
"You have to get it down to that figure - $8 billion to $10 billion (total cost from Melbourne to Sydney) is viable, $80 billion to $100 billion is not," he said.
A high-speed rail service to the quality of the TGV in France or Japan's bullet trains would cost up to $100 billion, he said.
A cheaper alternative could be built using a light train with limited doors, which would allow elevated tracks to curve along existing freeways and rail corridors, and the trains to hurtle along at 360km/h.
"If you change your paradigm and rearrange the technologies, as in this proposal, you can do it," Mr Lezala told the Herald Sun.
Mr Lezala said Melbourne to Sydney and Southern Cross to Geelong - direct or via Tullamarine and Avalon airports - were the two commercial options for high-speed rail in Victoria.
Mr Lezala, who raised the idea at a Swinburne University engineering forum, said embracing the "sit down, strap in" airline experience, where passengers predominantly used carry-on luggage, would help keep a train's weight down and reliability up.
A two-year, $6.5 million state government study into a rail link to Tullamarine Airport identified more than 80 route options.
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