Anthony Albanese, Labor’s infrastructure spokesman, said the pledge “would end nearly six years of Coalition inaction and finally deliver progress on a project that will revolutionise interstate travel and regional development”. High-speed trains would travel at speeds of up to 350km/h and cut the journey time between Melbourne and Sydney, and Sydney and Brisbane, to as little as three hours, Labor said. Acquiring land along the corridor will require the help of state and territory governments, and Mr Albanese said a Shorten government would set up a high-speed rail authority to manage this. The authority would also work with the private sector, including overseas companies experienced in building and operating high speed rail, to make the vision a reality.

Loading Labor’s vision for high-speed rail adopts the findings of a $20 million feasibility study commissioned by the former Gillard government in an agreement it made with the Greens in 2010. The 2013 study identified a 1748-kilometre route between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, with stops at more than a dozen regional cities along the way. Mr Albanese said the project “will be an economic game-changer for communities along its path”. “It would bring these communities closer to capital cities, allowing for increased commuting while also strengthening the case for regional business investment,” he said.

The study proposed building the rail in stages, starting with a link between Sydney and Canberra, then southwards to Melbourne, before heading north to Newcastle, the Gold Coast and Brisbane. Mr Albanese said it was important to start to buy the land now to protect it from developers. Labor has promised $1 billion to acquire land for high speed rail between Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Credit:Bloomberg The move follows the advice of federal agency Infrastructure Australia, which warned in a 2017 report that a failure to acquire the necessary land could add $11 billion to the cost of building the line. The report identified several areas on the fringes of Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle that are in property developers’ sights and should be bought within the next two years.

Land in Melbourne's outer north, in suburbs including Campbellfield and Coolaroo, should be acquired, as should several pockets of land between Sydney and Newcastle, including in Wyong and Cessnock, the report said. Loading Infrastructure Australia’s modelling estimated it would cost $720 million to buy those at-risk sections of the corridor. The Morrison government has also investigated building high-speed rail between capital cities and the regions. It has spent $20 million on studies for three potential high-speed rail links: between Melbourne and Shepparton; Sydney and Newcastle; and Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.