High Speed Rail Authority (HSRA)
A Commonwealth authority established in 2023 to plan, develop and oversee construction of a high speed rail network, beginning with Newcastle to Sydney.
Responsibilities
- Develop business cases for high speed rail corridors
- Undertake route development, geotechnical and environmental investigation
- Prepare environmental impact assessment documentation
- Advise on corridor protection and land acquisition
Operates under
- High Speed Rail Authority Act 2022 (Cth)
The Authority is a proponent, not an approver, which is exactly why it belongs in this database. It cannot approve its own project. To build, it must satisfy the Commonwealth environment department under the EPBC Act and the New South Wales planning system as critical state significant infrastructure -- two clocks, two sets of requirements, two documents, one railway.
The project entered a two year development phase on 24 February 2026 with $229.6 million in new funding, taking the total commitment to $659.6 million, and appointed its environmental planning and assessment advisor in August 2026. The released business case put the first two stages to Sydney at $61.2 billion, with a further $32 billion to reach Western Sydney airport. Roughly 115 km of the 194 km route is tunnel.
Nothing in this database bears on whether the project should be built, and the approvals discussed here are a small fraction of its cost and risk. What the database can say is narrower and still worth saying: a Commonwealth agency delivering a Commonwealth priority is subject to the same duplicated environmental assessment as any private proponent. That duplication is a choice the Commonwealth has the power to remove for everyone, and choosing not to remove it is a position it should have to defend on the merits rather than by default. See One environmental impact statement for high speed rail, not two.
Where this body appears in a process
Every point at which High Speed Rail Authority can hold something up, and why.
| Process | Step | Why it waits | Clock | Typical |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental and planning approval for high speed rail — Newcastle to Sydney | Development phase: route definition and reference design application | applicant | — | 730 |
| Environmental and planning approval for high speed rail — Newcastle to Sydney | Geotechnical, biodiversity and heritage field investigation assessment | third party | — | 540 |
| Environmental and planning approval for high speed rail — Newcastle to Sydney | Prepare the NSW environmental impact statement application | applicant | — | 365 |
| Environmental and planning approval for high speed rail — Newcastle to Sydney | Prepare Commonwealth assessment documentation application | applicant | — | 240 |
| Environmental and planning approval for high speed rail — Newcastle to Sydney | Submissions report and amendment report application | applicant | — | 180 |