Sydney-Melbourne railway could be affordably upgraded to slash travel times to six hours, expert says

The Sydney to Melbourne train journey could be slashed from 11 hours down to just six, and at a fraction of the cost of high-speed rail plans, if sections of the track were upgraded for medium-speed rail, a train expert says.

While a high-speed rail line would take decades to build, laying just 200km of new, straighter track to replace an existing 250km stretch of steam-age railway would deliver a quicker service within four years, according to Wollongong University associate professor Philip Laird.

The faster service proposed by Laird would only make a handful of stops at regional centres such as Albury and Wagga Wagga, as opposed to the more than 10 stops currently.

Laird, who is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport and was the inaugural national chairman of the Railway Technical Society of Australasia, believes that the environmental benefit is essential if Australia is to reach its short-term and 2050 emissions targets.

He points to similar rail upgrades that improved services between Brisbane and Rockhampton, as well as earlier upgrades in Western Australia, in proving that his Sydney to Melbourne plan is possible.

He said the Sydney to Melbourne railway has become deficient under the ARTC, and believes a separate authority should now be tasked with upgrading the interstate track.

Laird says the environmental benefits will be profound. He estimates freight could move more cheaply between the cities on the upgraded track in 10 hours.

While the track would not need to be electrified for trains to achieve the six-hour speed, he said the emissions improvements would be amplified by electrification in the future.

Despite the 11-hour trip time, the XPT service between Sydney and Melbourne costs as little as $78, with a smaller carbon footprint for travellers than those flying or driving cars on the route, according to Guardian Australia analysis.

Dr Geoffrey Clifton, a senior lecturer in transport logistics management at the University of Sydney business school, said the transport community had long been calling for modest upgrades on the Sydney-Melbourne corridor.