This page is a summary of the different cost classes we look at in this blog; each class listed below is explored in detail in its own post. Using the 2013 AECOM high-speed rail study as a starting point, numerous additional sources have been used to either confirm or question the reliability of the government study’s numbers. In some cases the AECOM numbers have been confirmed or supported, in others they have been found to be implausibly high, or have not been sufficiently justified. In such cases alternative cost data was sought, ideally from contemporary Australian experience, or failing that, from comparable Western economies (high-wage, well regulated, strict building code).
Tunnels
Cost per bore-kilometre of tunnel:
| Tunnel type | Design speed | OD | Cost per bore-km |
|---|---|---|---|
| High speed single track | 300km/h | 9.3m | $45m |
| High speed dual track | 300km/h | 14.6m | $75m |
| Medium speed single track | 200km/h | 7.7m | $36m |
| Medium speed dual track | 200km/h | 12.4m | $62m |
Bridges
Short and generic bridges are costed according to the following table.
| Bridge type | Span (m) | unit | Cost (2013 AUD) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small culvert (single) | 2.5 | Each | $200k |
| Large culvert (single) | 10 | Each | $500k |
| Pipe culvert (continuous) | 1 | track-km | $1.25m |
| Box culvert (continuous) | 2.5 | track-km | $2.5m |
| Short beam | 20 | track-km | $15.0m |
| Long beam | 50 | track-km | $25.0m |
Bridges requiring a longer mainspan than 50m will be classed as major bridges, and costed individually using the cost functions (Cost = AeBS) which are presented below. Note that these cost functions give cost per track-metre; multiply by 2 for dual track, and by 1000 for cost per track-kilometre. Also note that multipliers apply for “short” bridges of only a few spans; apply a multiplier of 2.35, 1.67 or 1.15 for bridges comprising only 1, 2 or 3 spans respectively.
| Bridge type | Span range (m) | A | B |
|---|---|---|---|
| Short beam | 5-80 | 11725 | 0.012 |
| Long beam | 50-350 | 19541 | 0.005 |
| Truss | 80-350 | 25404 | 0.0038 |
| Deck-arch | 100-350 | 27358 | 0.0032 |
| Through-arch | 150-400 | 29313 | 0.0027 |
| Cable-stayed | 150-750 | 42990 | 0.0012 |
| Suspension | 500-2000 | 58624 | 0.0007 |
Earthworks
5km of mass-haul is priced into these estimates; any haul over and above this costed at $2 per m3 per km.
- Rural:
- Cut (rock): $31/m3
- Cut (non-rock): $14/m3
- Fill: $16/m3
- Urban:
- Cut (rock): $61/m3
- Cut (non-rock): $21/m3
- Fill: $26/m3
Track
| Item | Design speed | Cost per km |
|---|---|---|
| Single track | 250km/h | $1.5m |
| Dual track | 250km/h | $2.25m |
| Dual slab track | 400km/h | $3.55m |
| Low-speed turnout | 100km/h | $0.7m |
| High-speed turnout | 200km/h | $1.5m |
Track upgrade costs are assumed to be 67% (two thirds) that of greenfield construction.
Signalling and Control
We will use a mixture of unit costs and per-kilometre costs:
| Element | Cost | Unit | Frequency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Track crossover | $4m | Each | As needed |
| Station crossover | $8m | Each | Every station |
| Balises (transponders) | $2000 | Per route-km | Entire length |
| Control Centre building | $25m | Each | At terminal stations |
| Control Centre equipment | $7m | Each | At terminal stations |
| Communications cable | $125k | Per route-km | Entire length except tunnel |
| Wi-fi/radio tower | $800k | Each | 10km (average) |
An expected range of average per-kilometre costs versus design speed should be:
- Less than 120km/h: $150,000/km
- 120-199km/h: $225,000/km
- 200-299km/h: $600,000/km
- 300km/h or greater: $900,000/km
Power
Although power infrastructure is not needed for the Hot Rails strategy, the costs below will be assumed for purposes of comparison. The costs of AECOM13 have been adapted to an average construction cost per-km cost for simplicity, and modified by design speed based on a University of Iowa study.
| Design speed | Single track | Dual track | Additional track |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 180km/h | $400k | $600k | $200k |
| 180-250km/k | $1m | $1.5m | $500k |
| 250-350km/h | $2m | $3m | $1m |
General Civil Works
| Item | Unit | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Gravel road | Lane-km | $50k |
| Local bitumen road | Lane-km | $250k |
| Main bitumen road | Lane-km | $500k |
| Agricultural fence | Linear-km | $15k |
| Chain link fence | Linear-km | $50k |
| Security fence | Linear-km | $100k |
| Armco barrier | Linear-km | $150k |
| Concrete barrier | Linear-km | $350k |
| Retaining wall | m2 | $2500 |
| Drainage | Route-km | $200k |
| Noise attenuation wall | Linear-km | $4.8m |
| Level crossing (plain) | Each | $180k |
| Level crossing (lighted) | Each | $350k |
| Level crossing (gated) | Each | $700k |
| Farm underpass | Each | $0.5m |
| Minor grade separation (simple) | Each | $1.25m |
| Minor grade separation (complex) | Each | $2.5m |
| Major grade separation | Each | $5m |
| Utilities relocation | Route-km | $125k |
| Site clearance and minor demolition | Route-km | $125k |
Stations
| Station type | Description | Upgrade cost |
|---|---|---|
| Operational | Currently in use and well maintained | $0.5m |
| Partly operational | Some buildings in use and mostly well maintained | $1m |
| Closed | Not in use but suitable buildings still exist | $2.5m |
| Greenfield | No existing or badly degraded structures only | $10m-$70m |
Land Acquisition
Generally costed on a case-by-case basis by looking at current real-estate prices on websites such as realestate.com.au, and assuming a 40-metre corridor (4ha/km, 8.8 acres/km). Where houses must be demolished, the entire block must be purchased regardless of size. Compulsory acquisition will be assumed, but no “compensatory uplift” will be applied.
Some typical land values are listed below (determined by casual survey of realestate.com.au and rounded to nearest $250k).
| Land type | Cost/quarter acre | Cost/ha | Cost/km (40m corridor) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rural low | N/A | $1000 | $40k |
| Rural typical | N/A | $2500 | $10k |
| Rural high | N/A | $5000 | $20k |
| Hobby farm | N/A | $50000 | $200k |
| Lifestyle block | N/A | $250k | $1m |
| Minor town | $250k | $2.5m | $10m |
| Major town | $500k | $5m | $20m |
| Metropolitan fringe | $750K | $7.5m | $30m |
| Metropolitan suburbs | $1m | $10m | $40m |
| Metropolitan core | $2.5m | $25m | $100m |
Hi HR, I saw this costing in the comments of this Canberra Times article – http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/canberra-risks-losing-its-character-altogether-former-planning-head-tony-powell-20170515-gw4vvm.html
Is $1153 per centimeter for light rail about right or is this ACT Government inefficiency ?
Best regards, Pablo.
BBAMay 22 2017 at 1:18am
On the ACT Government jobs vacancy site today, there are 11 vacancies advertised that are in the Light Rail project. The combined salaries for these positions is $1.21 million.
I wonder if these salaries and oncosts (super, accommodation, resources, back filling etc) along with other salaries, have been included in the cost?
As of April this year, the tram cost was $1153 per centimetre.
$1153/cm is $115 million per kilometre. ACT light rail is certainly expensive, though perhaps not quite THAT expensive. Estimated construction cost of $780m divided by 12km length makes $65m/km – almost (incredibly) exactly the same unit cost as the Rudd government estimated for high-speed rail (and even that is probably excessive). There is certainly a strong argument that the cost of ACT light rail is far, far too high.
In regard to the costing of the high speed train service between Murray Bridge and Adelaide at an estimated cost of $1.1 billion, I presume that it would include at the very least a certain amount of tunnelling down through the hills and leading into Adelaide.
Question; In regard to minimising bends as well as hills and valleys, would tunnelling (keeping it as straight and level as possible) be a better solution and also cheaper in the operational long turn? EG. Like the London Tube.
can anybody give me a ballpark estimate to the cost of connecting via rails current trail rail map of canada to a underground rail connecting all the cities within canada; I own bitcoin; bitcoin is the future; we have some decent subway stations in toronto and montreal but i want the whole system to be underground and a bullet train or hot rail trail; like you see in europe with speeds of 300km connecting every city we wouldnt need things like planes much i dont think
can anybody give me a ballpark estimate to the cost of connecting
via rails current rail map of canada
to a underground rail connecting all the cities within canada;
I own bitcoin; bitcoin is the future; we have some decent subway stations in toronto and montreal but i want the whole system to be underground and a bullet train or hot rail trail; like you see in europe with speeds of 300km connecting every city
we wouldnt need things like planes much
i dont think
and professional sports league players could travel faster on these trains in a better scenery than being scared in a plane; I hate planes.
Though I am not a athlete I am an Entrepeneur. with big planes.
can anybody give me a ballpark estimate to the cost of connecting
via rails current rail map of canada
to a underground rail connecting all the cities within canada;
I own bitcoin; bitcoin is the future; we have some decent subway stations in toronto and montreal but i want the whole system to be underground and a bullet train or hot rail trail; like you see in europe with speeds of 300km connecting every city
we wouldnt need things like planes much
i dont think
and professional sports league players could travel faster on these trains in a better scenery than being scared in a plane; I hate planes.
Though I am not a athlete I am an Entrepeneur. with big plans.
wow you cant even
edit a comment lol; silly spelling mistakes
didnt space crap out properly
so you could read it first time
Would love to see a cost breakdown in 2023 figures specifically for LRT. Im a Rail Futures Inc member and have independently been working on a scenario for a Hobart Light Rail network. In my current costing I have been using Canberra and Newcastle as a benchmark. My scenarios are for light rail using street wire free, existing disused Main Line corridor and even up to 4.7km of cut cover / TBM tunnelling with 4 given 90m platform sub surface stations
Hi Sean, sounds like an interesting concept you’re working on! The problem with costing LRT in this context is that a very high proportion of the cost is the disruption to existing services. It’s very hard to give a typical “cost per kilometre” for works in a crowded urban environment. Also, underground stations are horrendously expensive – keep your concept surface level if at all possible, especially the stations!