Federal spending on a long-sought high-speed rail project is on track to reach almost $700 million before the first shovel hits the ground.
A two-year development phase of a high-speed rail line between Sydney and Newcastle has begun, which will ensure work on the long-awaited transport project can begin.
The development phase will be responsible for the approvals process of the route, awarding contracts and finalising the design.
It's estimated a high-speed rail line would mean travel time of only one hour between Sydney and Newcastle and 30 minutes from Sydney to the Central Coast.
The federal government will pump an extra $229 million into the project, bringing the total spent by the Commonwealth on the development to almost $660 million.
Transport Minister Catherine King said the development phase would be the ground work for construction to finally begin on the rail link.
'Carefully planned, costed and detailed preparation takes time, but it means when construction starts, it is built to last,' she said.
A business case for the Newcastle to Sydney stage will also be released on Tuesday.
It's estimated a high-speed rail line would mean a travel time of one hour between Sydney and Newcastle and 30 minutes from Sydney to the Central Coast
The rail line would be similar to Japan's famous 'Shinkansen' network, or bullet trains
The case projects a boost of $250 billion to the economy over the next 50 years, with the first stage set to produce about 99,000 jobs.
'The High Speed Rail Authority will go metre by metre, to lock in the design, approvals process, scope and cost of the future rail line,' King said.
'At the end of this two-year process, the project will be shovel-ready.
'The $659.6m, two-year development phase will ensure that Line 1 is construction ready. As recommended by Infrastructure Australia, this is the detailed work required to lock in the design, approvals process, scope and cost to ensure major construction contracts can be awarded.'
High-speed rail has been long been touted as a future transport option in Australia, but successive governments over multiple decades have failed to see the thought bubble leave the station.
There's been several proposals for a high-speed rail route linking Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
In an interview with the ABC last week, Albanese foreshadowed the decision but acknowledged: 'It won't be open while I'm prime minister.
'We have a small population, relatively, for a big nation, island continent. We're the only inhabited continent on Earth that doesn't have high-speed rail.'
Transport Minister Catherine King has detailed the development phase for the high-speed line
During an interview on 3AW, he said he hoped high-speed rail between Sydney and Melbourne would be built 'in my lifetime' and suggested private funding may play a role.
'The way that it becomes financially viable as well is to make sure there's that regional economic development along the route, including in the national capital of Canberra,' he said. 'But we also want to see some private-sector engagement there as well.
'I know that the Japanese government essentially, and Japanese companies, are very interested in playing a role. We have to take pressure off our capital cities as well, and one way to do that is to have good regional economic development and high-speed rail can be very much a part of that.'
Nationals leader David Littleproud is among those who have cast doubt over the viability of the latest attempt, saying it risks becoming a white elephant without Australia having more baseload power at its disposal.
'I am not opposed to examining these types of projects. There have been proposals from Toowoomba to Brisbane as well,' he said last week.
'But if you are going to build this infrastructure, you need to be able to power it. It is pointless laying track if you cannot run the trains.
'Unless the energy system is fixed, this will not work.'
