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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Tory Shepherd

High-speed rail is an Australian political punchline. After 50 years, will Labor’s newest proposal finally leave the station?

Sydney Australia Catherine King Tony Abbott Anthony Albanese Newcastle Geoffrey Clifton Canberra HSRA
Shinkansen train
The world’s first bullet train, the Shinkansen, started operating in Japan in 1964, not long before a similar high-speed rail system was proposed for Australia. But despite multiple announcements since then, it has not yet materialised. Photograph: Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images


“A second airport for Sydney has to be connected to Sydney by both an expressway and a railway or perhaps some rapid transport system … a high-speed rail could be constructed,” the late Liberal MP for Mackellar, Bill Wentworth, said in 1971.

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