The rail industry will release a report on Tuesday suggesting COVID-19 has accelerated demand for faster train links between Newcastle and Sydney.
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The Australasian Railway Association commissioned a survey which found 35 per cent of respondents in Sydney were likely to consider moving to a regional area and 30 per cent of all city respondents were more likely to consider such a move because of pandemic-induced work changes.
Half of Sydney respondents said faster rail would make them more likely to consider moving.
Of the 600 people surveyed in NSW, Victoria and Queensland, 43 per cent were working more from home and 23 per cent expected changes to their work patterns to become permanent.
The largest impediment to people moving to the regions, cited by 45 per cent of respondents, was travel times and distances.
The ARA push comes as the NSW government is poised to start a detailed investigation of fast rail options between Newcastle and Sydney after releasing a strategic business case in 2019.
The government is also investigating fast rail to the south coast, Canberra and western NSW.
The ARA report focuses on "faster rail", using existing rolling stock on upgraded tracks, rather than fast rail or high-speed rail, which are more complex and expensive.
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It says faster trains between Newcastle and Sydney could travel at up to 200 kilometres an hour and shave 30 minutes off the journey, which now takes two hours and 35 minutes.
The report says existing express trains on the Newcastle line average 60km/hr, compared with average road speeds of 85km/hr.
It says Australia's regional rail network is "slow compared to international standards and struggles to compete with travel by road".
"While competitive journey times are important, train speed is only part of the story," the report says.
"It's also about improving the whole customer experience, including comfort so customers can be more productive, more options for when they can travel, more frequent services, improved reliability and ... better network integration to deliver people door to door.
"In Australia this will require untangling the regional passenger rail network from freight and urban commuter services and providing direct, frequent and reliable services that are well integrated to the rest of the rail and transport network."
Of the survey respondents in four major regional centres, Newcastle people were the least likely to shift out of their car if train times were comparable.
Sixty per cent of Newcastle respondents said they would consider taking the train if it was as fast or faster than their usual mode of transport, compared with 79 per cent in Geelong, 75 per cent on the Gold Coast and 68 per cent on the Sunshine Coast.
Faster rail services would mean catching the train from Newcastle or Wollongong to the city would take the same time as driving.
- ARA chief executive officer Caroline Wilkie
ARA chief executive officer Caroline Wilkie said investment in rail would allow regions to accommodate Sydney residents who wanted to change their lifestyle after the pandemic.
"More Sydney residents want to make the move out of the city as their daily commute becomes more flexible," Ms Wilkie said.
"Faster rail services would mean catching the train from Newcastle or Wollongong to the city would take the same time as driving."
The ARA report says fast rail studies should take into account broader benefits to metropolitan and regional areas rather than simply comparing travel times.
It identifies three steps to achieve faster rail, including "acting now" to upgrade existing rail lines to deliver faster, more reliable and more frequent services; establishing new fast rail lines in the next five to 10 years; and preparing for high-speed rail in the long term by preserving rail corridors now.
The ARA is a coalition of 150 public and private rail operators, track owners, suppliers, contractors, manufacturers and consultants.
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