LAND in Campbellfield and Coolaroo must be secured now for a high speed rail project to avoid cost blowouts, delays and community disruption, the nation’s infrastructure adviser warns.

media_camera A fast train would slash travel times along Australia’s east coast.

Infrastructure Australia wants plans to acquire land along the proposed East Coast High Speed Rail route fast tracked within the next five years, or risk leaving taxpayers billions of dollars out-of-pocket.

The agency has identified 60km of land along the rail corridor between Victoria and NSW, which is currently at risk of being gobbled up by developers.

About two thirds of that land will be in Victoria, including at Coolaroo, Campbellfield, Beveridge, Wallan and Donnybrook.

Infrastructure Australia chairman Mark Birrell said the governments of NSW and Victoria, and the Federal Government had to buy the land now, at an estimated cost of $720 million, or pay more than $3.5 billion later in land acquisitions and construction costs.

Mr Birrell said the “critical corridor” faced immediate pressure due to its proximity to major population centres.

“Meeting Australia’s future growth challenges requires long-term vision,” he said.

media_camera CRH380 harmony bullet trains at a high-speed train maintenance base in Wuhan, China. Picture: Supplied

“As our cities and regions undergo a period of considerable change, strategically important infrastructure corridors need to be preserved early in their planning.

“If we protect infrastructure corridors we will reduce project costs and especially minimise the need for underground tunnelling, where the cost to government and therefore taxpayers can be up to ten times higher than it would have been.”

The link between Melbourne and Canberra could be finished by 2037, and the whole link from Brisbane to Sydney to Melbourne by 2056.

Acting state Public Transport Minister John Eren said, if ever built, the link was a federal project the Federal Government would oversee.