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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1998 Week 5 Hansard (25 August) . . Page.. 1270 ..

MR BERRY (continuing):

In Spain I was able to travel on a tilt train, the Talgo tilt train, which has been a feature of Spanish railways for many years. I can tell you that if there was a Talgo travelling between Canberra and Sydney at 200 kilometres an hour I would be fairly impressed as well, compared with the trains which exist at the current time. But the French train, the TGV, with a new alignment, would be of magnificent benefit to our community as a whole. As has been properly said, there are some environmental issues which have to be considered in the context of the development of this alignment. That will be the subject of much interest amongst environmentalists, I am sure. In Germany I had the pleasure to travel on what I suspect is a very ordinary train in Germany but would be fairly special here because it was able to travel quite regularly at 160 kilometres an hour through the countryside. Then I was able to travel on the Maglev. My colleague Mr Moore also experienced the Maglev train. I have a little certificate at home which shows - and it is properly authorised - that I was on the train when it travelled at 412 kilometres per hour.

I have seen some false claims made about the Maglev train in various publications in Australia - that it is only in its experimental stage, has never run, and those sorts of things. However, it has been run for thousands of kilometres on a test track in Germany. I can tell you that if you go and travel on the train and look at the servicing facility that they have built to properly demonstrate how they would service this vehicle - I suppose we should not call it a train - you will see that they have also established a factory where they made the guide rail for the train. The project has been very well thought out and takes into account all the features which are required to develop such a vehicle. I must say that my emotional preference is for the German Maglev vehicle, but an assessment process has been gone through and the TGV-style train has been chosen as the right sort of vehicle for Australia.

There are some advantages with that sort of vehicle because it can use existing lines to some extent and can use existing overhead electrical power sources, whereas the Maglev train requires a very different alignment and uses a different power source. But, at the same time, the Maglev vehicle has significant advantages over the French arrangement because it is able to deal with grades of up to 10 per cent, I am told, whereas an ordinary-wheel train cannot manage grades beyond about 3 per cent, which gives it quite a large advantage when going up the escarpment and dealing with the hills and valleys between Sydney and the ACT. Large viaducts can be handled in the development of the guide rail for the Maglev train as easily as one would handle a valley with a water pipeline.

Ideally, I think the Maglev train would be the most preferable, but it is the most expensive. I suspect that came into the reasoning of those who chose the French arrangement. But I wonder whether in the future some may regret this. I am not in a position to really judge or be critical of the decision which was made in relation to the French train because of the processes, but I would say that I am a little concerned that the people who have developed the Maglev train have walked away unhappy about the process. There have been some claims that the process was too short and did not take into consideration many of the fine features which have been developed in the Maglev vehicle. It troubles me somewhat that that ill feeling may linger for some time.

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