WIRESERVICE PRESS RELEASE The government of Australia committed in 2010 to moving forward on is looking at potential high speed rail routes from Brisbane to Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne, as well as the economic viability of such a network. The government has released the first phase of the report . (this is a big file takes awhile to load) The Australian Green Party has also released a study on the benefits of High Speed Rail. It can be viewed here . High Speed Rail Canada Founder, Paul Langan states, " The Australian government recognizes the need to modernize their passenger rail system. Thankfully the government there still owns the rail infrastructure. Amazingly there is also a national political party formed just to promote the idea of high speed trains. (eg: Bullet Train for Canberra political party)."

MOSCOW, November 26 - RAPSI. Prosecutors are seeking sentences of 16 to 19 years for defendants implicated in the case of the planned terrorist attack on a high-speed train between St. Petersburg and Moscow, defense attorney Abusupyn Gaytayev told the Russian Legal Information Agency (RAPSI/rapsinews.com) on Monday. He added that prosecutors believes that all four defendants are guilty. The case is being considered by a three-judge panel. Islam Khamzhuyev, Fail Nevlyutov, Mansur Umayev, and Mansur Edilbiyev have been accused of attempting to commit acts of terrorism, as well as illegally acquiring, transferring, selling, transporting, and possessing arms and explosive devices. Khamzhuyev, Umayev, and Edelbiyev have also been charged with illegally manufacturing explosives. Nevlyutov has been charged with taking part in an illegally armed enterprise. Khamzhuyev has also been accused of financing an illegally armed criminal enterprise. On July 18, 2011, Federal Security Service (F

Property located around high-speed rail (HSR) stations is defying recent government measures to curb home prices and is attracting a good number of buyers due to convenient transport links, market analysts said on Saturday. Despite recent property price- curbing measures, including the implementation of a property price registration mechanism, property developers are still launching new projects near HSR stations due to strong demand, they said. They added that the solid demand reflects high hopes that property prices around the stations will rise further, as local governments are keen to use transport links to improve the development of the areas. Under the property price system that went into effect on Aug. 1, the actual prices of property transactions should be reported to the Ministry of the Interior within 30 days of the completion of any transaction. The system aims to boost transparency and reduce speculation. Alpha Jwo (卓輝華), president of Honda Property Appraisal Corp (宏大

TSURU, Yamanashi Prefecture--A rail operator has unveiled a prototype high-speed magnetic levitation train, which it plans to operate on one of Japan's busiest routes from 2027. On Nov. 22, Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) revealed its Series L0 prototype, which after further development could enter service carrying passengers at speeds of 500 kph on the Chuo Shinkansen Line. So-called maglev trains use magnetic repellence to lift the train above the track, eliminating friction. JR Tokai aims to run the train between Tokyo and Nagoya on the JR Chuo Shinkansen Line, a route currently served by Japan's high-speed bullet trains. The service will be expanded to Osaka by 2045. The new train features a streamlined nose similar to those on its bullet train counterparts, which reduces wind drag. JR Tokai plans the train to comprise 14 carriages including the cab car. The carriages contain four seats abreast; the end car can accommodate 24 passengers, while other cars will h

Liberal leadership candidate Sousa vows to fight for high-speed rail

Train There is no firm timetable for a high-speed link from London to Scotland Plans for a high-speed rail link between Glasgow and Edinburgh, cutting journey times to less than 30 minutes, are being taken forward by ministers. The Scottish government aims to deliver the scheme by 2024 - at least 10 years before any high-speed link from England may be extended north of the border. If successful, it would see 140mph trains linking Glasgow and Edinburgh. Talks will now take place between transport officials, the rail industry and potential partners in both cities. Plans have already been announced at Westminster to have the high-speed project, known as HS2, running between England's major cities.Phase one of the £33bn link, between London and Birmingham, is due to start operating in 2026. The UK government has previously said this would be followed by a second phase route reaching Manchester and Leeds by about 2033. As yet, there has been no dated or written commitment to e

Although not true high speed rail, definitely modern passenger rail service. Here is the podcast of the NPR broadcast of the Gautrain. It links Johannesburg, the country's economic and business hub, and Pretoria, its political capital. http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=164401173&m=164437652

China's high-speed railway from Harbin to Dalian is in trial operation. It is the world's first high-speed rail built for the alpine-cold region, with a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour. This is a neat photo of maintenance workers being training on walking the line at night.

Definitely not high speed rail but privately funded passenger rail service in Florida starting in 2014. Interestingly to see if it does. Private railroad plans passenger service

“Canada’s High Speed Rail Embarrassment” G8 COUNTRIES HIGH SPEED RAIL COMPARISONS TO CANADA UPDATED: October15th, 2012 - by High Speed Rail Canada http://highspeedrail.ca or blog http://www.highspeedraicanada.com – Paul Langan, Founder High Speed Rail Canada 519-654-0089, Canada is the only G8 country that does not have high speed rail. In our 2012 update, Canada falls even farther behind the rest of the G8 countries in high speed rail. Here is a summary of the facts. Canada – None - The federal government has no plan for high speed rail and no money allocated. The latest current high speed rail studies done in Canada, (Windsor-Quebec City 2011 and Calgary – Edmonton 2009) have, like all previous others, been shelved and no action has been taken. According to the Chief executive of VIA Rail Marc Laliberté, The fastest train that VIA RAIL runs has an average speed of about 115 kilometres an hour. VIA Rail in 2012 is cutting train service to the cities of Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmon

http://www.wireservice.ca/index.php?module=News&func=display&sid=9214

Maybe we need this type of "outside the box" solution in Canada . The Bullet Train for Canberra political party will contest the next federal election, with party secretary Michael Lemmey nominated as unofficial candidate. The party plans to rebrand itself as the Bullet Train for Australia Party and begin a national membership drive to push the issue federally. The niche party has only one policy: to get high-speed rail from Canberra to Sydney and then eventually for the whole east coast of Australia. Almost 9000 Canberrans voted for Bullet Train for Canberra at the recent ACT election and the party hopes to replicate that success nationally. Advertisement Party spokesman Tim Bohm said the Canberra Liberals, ACT Greens and ACT Labor all supported the issue during the election campaign. ''[That means] 92 per cent of the vote went to parties that said they want to get a bullet train. This means the unofficial referendum result is 'yes' to getting a bulle

Fantastic article comparing Italy's public and private high speed rail operators http://www.forbes.com/sites/garywalther/2012/11/02/rating-italys-high-speed-trains-frecciarossa-vs-italo/