NSW slams brakes on high-speed rail plans after spending $100m on studies

The Perrottet government has quietly abandoned its vision to build its own dedicated fast rail line between Sydney and Newcastle despite four years and roughly $100m spent on feasibility studies, abruptly halting work on a final business case just as geotechnical drilling was being planned.

While the McNaughton report has been kept secret by the NSW government, with Guardian Australia spending two years attempting to obtain the strategy under freedom of information laws, it is understood that early-stage pre-feasibility cases for all four corridors were conducted, with the Newcastle option emerging as a priority.

In addition to new rolling stock and track, the faster travel time was to be achieved by limiting the service to a handful of stops including Epping, Tuggerah, Gosford and Lake Macquarie.

Geotechnical testing plans were under way, with the first step to conduct rock drilling at the site where tunnelling would be required to reach the Hawkesbury River.

But the Guardian can reveal that in mid-December, fast rail project teams that had been developing the final business case for the Newcastle corridor were told that building a new dedicated track was no longer a consideration of the state government.

Guardian Australia understands the NSW government has not secured any land on any of the fast rail corridors identified by McNaughton.

A Greater Cities Commission spokesperson did not identify any progress it had made regarding fast rail collaboration with the commonwealth, and noted the HSRA did not yet exist.

The revelations about fast rail between Sydney and Newcastle follow the release of a proposal last week arguing thjt the Albanese government should pursue its high-speed rail ambition by progressively upgrading sections of the existing train corridor, starting between Sydney and Canberra as the cheapest and quickest way to deliver fast trains by the end of this decade, as opposed to the more challenging Newcastle corridor.