Australia: High-Speed Rail's Impact on Economic Development

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between high-speed rail and economic development in Australia. It begins with an introduction outlining the project's objectives, scope, and a review of relevant literature, focusing on the development of high-speed railways in Australia and their contribution to the nation's economic growth. The research employs a descriptive research design, utilizing both primary and secondary data sources, including academic databases and journals. The methodology section details the research strategy, approach (deductive), and data analysis techniques. The report addresses research limitations, such as time constraints and the use of cross-sectional data, while also presenting a detailed time schedule for the project's completion. The findings are presented, followed by conclusions and recommendations regarding the impact of high-speed rail on various aspects of the Australian economy, including job creation, tourism, and rural development. The report is designed to provide a thorough understanding of the topic, offering valuable insights into the economic benefits of high-speed rail infrastructure in Australia.

A study on the relationship between
high-speed rail and economic
development in Australia

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Project Objective..............................................................................................................................1
Project Scope...................................................................................................................................1
Literature Review.............................................................................................................................1
The development of Australian high-speed railways..................................................................2
High-speed rail contributes to the economic development of Australia....................................2
Research Questions..........................................................................................................................3
Primary Questions.......................................................................................................................3
Secondary Questions...................................................................................................................3
Research Design and Methodology.................................................................................................3
Research Design..........................................................................................................................3
Research Strategy........................................................................................................................4
Research approach......................................................................................................................4
Instrument of research.................................................................................................................4
Data Analysis..............................................................................................................................5
Sampling.....................................................................................................................................5
Reliability and validity of data....................................................................................................5
Research Limitation.........................................................................................................................5
Limitation for this research are as follows:......................................................................................5
Time Schedule.................................................................................................................................6
Conclusion and Recommendation...................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
High speed rails is considered as the kind of rail transport which is faster comparatively
to traditional rail traffic. Speed of latest version of High speed rail is approximately 250
Km/hour. In context to Australia, High speed railway is beneficial for its economical as well as
social development of the country (Butlin, 2018). This research provides deep study on the
relationship between High speed railway and economic development in Australia. Further it
describes about research objectives, literature review, research questions and different strategies
and methodology. Along with this, it also elaborates about limitations of research which have
delayed in finding out appropriate conclusion of research.
Project Objective
 To examine the development of Australian high-speed railways
 To evaluate the ways high-speed rail contributes to the economic development of
Australia
 To evaluate the correlation between the two variables, i.e. construction of high-speed
railways with the economic growth of the country.
Project Scope
Project scope defines limitations and needs for conducting research. For this project,
scope consists all researches that have helped in determining impact of relationship between
high-speed rail and economic development in Australia. It includes consequences of transport
infrastructure for economic development of country. This research is not restricted by any
demographic or geographic segment. The project is focused on research questions for achieving
research objectives. Primary and secondary is used for conducting research. Analysis of various
books, magazines and journals has helped in collecting data for research (Chadwick, Zhou and
Saat., 2014). Various data sources and articles has analysed for performing this research in a
better way. In this project different database has been examined like Google scholar, Science
direct, ProQuest and Ebscohst etc.
Literature Review
Literature Review is the most important aspect as it covers different views of authors
which are related with the research topic. It describes and clarify all the aspects of the particular
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literature, It give a theoretical base of every part of research, which helps the author or writer to
find out the cause of the research. It includes several steps to write the literature reviews which
are as follows, find the topic on which work should be done, organise the topic and sub topic,
evaluate them, logically join them to each section and at last focus on the analysis part.
The development of Australian high-speed railways
According to the views of Edwards, (2012) it is stated that high speed railways in
Australia connecting Melbourne to Brisbane via Sydney, Canberra and other regional centres. It
has potential to transform structure of cities, region and even nation. It is clearly mentioned that
productivity is a key success driver of Australian economic growth and propensity over the long
term. It is a solution for major issue of congestion which not only impact on an ability for people
to access jobs and balance work but has ability to move goods and people around efficiently.
This cost of congestion will grow significantly over coming decades and will impact adversely
on Australian productivity. Australia is a well-developed economy, as a result there are no other
threats of productivity. Its ageing population is projected to nearly have the tax base, so for their
good access to job, efficient transportation is a key changer for nations productivity. In this
situation, high speed railway plays a pivotal role in assessing people from one place to another
(Edwards, 2012). Australian air corridor is second busiest and not everybody can afford this
mode of transportation on large basis. In this condition, high speed railway is not as costly as air,
but population can afford to travel via different cities of Australian to reach at destination. In
future, high speed railway of Australia will increase share of economic growth for the nation
with equal contribution in mode of transportation.
High-speed rail contributes to the economic development of Australia
According to the study of Preston, (2013) it is analysed that the type of rail transport in
which speed of train in usually much higher than the traditional train are known as high speed
trains. There is no specific standard regarding the speed limit but the train speed exceeding the
limit of 200 kph (kilometre per hour) and under 1000 kph are considered as high speed trains.
The several ways in which high speed rail can contribute in the economic development in
Australia are as follows;
Save the time to travel: Reducing the time to travel can save time and large amount of
raw material and FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) could be picked up and delivered on
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time, which ensures the growth and development in the services of product and can boost
economic development.
In job creation: High speed trains can lead to increase in job opportunities, it increases
the chances of employment and due to which economic stability can be achieved quickly and
hence plays the important role in developing the economy of the country
(Ferreira, 2014).
Increase in tourism: The tourism facilities can be become effective with the help of high
speed transport facilities it increases employment related to the tourism services and generates
revenue which helps in economic development.
In rural development: Through high speed rails the development of the rural areas can
be done quickly, as it generates fast services and growth of per capital income of person can be
increased, which plays the crucial role in the economic development of country.
Research Questions
Primary Questions
The main aim of the research is to answer the question which are stated below as:
1. What are the ways through which high-speed rail contributes to the economic
development of Australia?
Secondary Questions
The secondary questions related with the research are described below as:
1. How to examine the development of Australian high-speed railways?
2. What are the ways to evaluate the correlation between the two variables, i.e. construction
of high-speed railways with the economic growth of the country?
Research Design and Methodology
Research Design
It is important part of entire methodology as it defines the ways through which
investigator undertake study with the purpose of drawing a valid conclusion. Mainly it includes
various design such as descriptive, exploratory and experimental (Hensher, Ellison and Mulley,
2014). In this, descriptive design refer to the study that is based on the existing factors and
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figures. On the other side, experimental design refers to the specific analysis which aid in
evaluating certain theory. For carry out the research, investigator use descriptive research design
which help in analyzing research and gathering data in effective manner.
Research Strategy
There are different types of research strategy that are used by the researcher in executing
their research operations. The present study is based on grounded approach which helps in
establishing a particular theory which is useful for the study. The main aim of this strategy is that
it helps in explaining behavior of individuals. In the present study theoretical underpinning will
be executed (Laird, 2011).
Research approach
Discussion of research approach is a vital part of any scientific study regardless of
research area. Research approach are plan and procedure for research that span a steps from
broad assumptions to detailed methods of data collection, analysis and interpretation. There are
two types of research approach:
 Deductive research approach - It is an approach the research starts with proposition of
hypothesis and end result of research is confirmation/rejection (McLean, 2012). It is
concerned with testing an existing theory and associated with qualitative research. It
starts with hypothesis itself. Researcher is not bound to alter direction of study.
 Inductive research approach - It is an approach to research that starts with observation
and end result of research is THEORY. It is concerned with building a new concept and
part of quantitative research. It does not have any place for hypothesis. So, researcher is
free to alter direction of study.
In the present research deductive research approaches are used as they are beneficial for
generating valuable data which are useful for the study.
Instrument of research
It refers to resources which were used by investigator while conducting the research
effectively. In this research, researcher have used primary as well as secondary data in order to
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meet requirement of the project which will be beneficial in finding out appropriate conclusion for
it (Newton, 2012). Both the sources were helpful in the finding out best quality data within the
given time and cost.
Data Analysis
The process of evaluating data using analytical and logical reasoning to examine each
components of the data provided. This form of analysis must be completed when conducting a
research experiment. Data from various sources is gathered, reviewed and then analyzed to form
some sort of finding or conclusion. In the present research is based on qualitative aspects (Sun,
2015). There are a variety of specific data analysis method, some of which include data mining,
text analytics, business intelligence and data visualization. It helps in finding conclusion of data
collected by using various strategic methods and technique. In the present research 30
respondents have been taken with the help of random sampling method.
Sampling
Sampling is a process of collecting data from pre-decided number of observations among
large population size. In this research, Sample is collected from simple random sampling. In this
sample is collected from population in which each sample has an equal chance or probability for
being chosen. In this project sample size is 30 customers by whom the questionnaire will be
filled.
Reliability and validity of data
This is the most important part of the research work. The reliability factor is based on
measuring validity, consistency and trustworthy factor. In order to ensure reliability there is
reflective journal and dependability audit conducted (O'faircheallaigh, 2017). To measure the
internal validity there have been prolonged observation, case analysis etc. The external validity
factor is related with prevention of data, adequacy etc.
Research Limitation
Limitation for this research are as follows:
 Time: There is lack of time for gathering information which is considered as a limitation
for whole research. Which creates boundaries for performing research in depth.
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 Lack of Quantitative data: This research is done by using only qualitative data for
analysing data. Usage of quantitative data would give huge amount of data to perform
research and it will help in making research more stronger.
 Cross sectional data: Use of cross-sectional data has created research gap because it
provides data of a particular time and do not provide strong base for research questions.
So, there is a need for conducting further research by using different tools for collecting
data (Preston, 2013). Which will provide required data for the research..
Time Schedule
For carry out the research, researcher performed various stages within their specific deadline of
the research. All these are as follows:
Chapter 1: Introduction: It includes background of the project, rational of the research
which was execute as well as performed in one week.
Chapter 2: Literature Review: It includes in- depth study which is based on the previous
research. Along with this, it also define validity on the basis of research objectives (Yan, Dai and
Hu, 2015). This section required 3 week for performing.
Chapter 3: Research Methodology: This section includes various methods like research
design, data analysis, research approach, and many more. For this stage 3 week was allocated.
Chapter 4: Data analysis: This section analysed from various journals. In this allocated
time was 3 week.
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendation: This section define overall view of the
entire research and also evaluate the scope of the study (Profillidis, 2016). It also contribute in
determining as well as suggesting various areas for carry outing another research. For this
allocated time was 1 week.
Thus all these stages are completed in 10 weeks.
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Conclusion and Recommendation
From above mention report it is concluded that High speed rails are innovation in
transport infrastructure. It has reduced time duration and distance of travelling. This project aims
at determining relationship between developing high-speed rails and economic development of
Australia. It has identified the contribution of HSR which will boost economic development. It
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will benefit social and economic factors of country as it reduces distance, enhance connectivity,
regional attractiveness. Introduction and development of HSR will increase employment
chances,it will demand for more labours and focuses on mass productivity. Time and cost saving
element of HSR will attract business activity. These benefits have long-term impact on economy.
As per discussed report it has been recommended that High-speed rail can help in
increasing employment and improvement in transportation, which will boost economic
development.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Butlin, N. G., 2018. THE SHAPE OP THE AUSTRALIAN ECONOMY, 1861–1900 1.
Economic Record. 34(67). pp.10-29.
Chadwick, S. G., Zhou, N. and Saat, M. R., 2014. Highway-rail grade crossing safety challenges
for shared operations of high-speed passenger and heavy freight rail in the US. Safety
Science. 68. pp.128-137.
Edwards, N., 2012. High speed rail: benefits that add up: a report for the Australian Greens.
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Ferreira, L., 2014. Planning Australian freight rail operations: an overview. Transportation
Research part A: Policy and practice. 31(4). pp.335-348.
Hensher, D. A., Ellison, R. B. and Mulley, C., 2014. Assessing the employment agglomeration
and social accessibility impacts of high speed rail in Eastern Australia. Transportation.
41(3). pp.463-493.
Laird, P., 2011. Back on track: rethinking transport policy in Australia and New Zealand. UNSW
Press.
McLean, I. W., 2012. Why Australia prospered: the shifting sources of economic growth (Vol.
43). Princeton University Press.
Newton, P. W., 2012. Liveable and sustainable? Socio-technical challenges for twenty-first-
century cities. Journal of Urban Technology. 19(1). pp.81-102.
O'faircheallaigh, C., 2017. Mining and development: foreign-financed mines in Australia,
Ireland, Papua New Guinea and Zambia. Routledge.
Preston, J., 2013. The economics of investment in high speed rail: Summary and conclusions.
International Transport Forum Discussion Paper.
Profillidis, V., 2016. Railway management and engineering. Routledge.
Sun, Z., 2015. Technology innovation and entrepreneurial state: the development of China's high-
speed rail industry. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management. 27(6). pp.646-659.
Yan, B., Dai, G. L. and Hu, N., 2015. Recent development of design and construction of short
span high-speed railway bridges in China. Engineering Structures. 100. pp.707-717.
Online
Australian Very Fast Trains-A Chronology. 2016. [Online]. Available Through:
<https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/
Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/Background_Papers/bp9798/98bp16>
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