Environmental and planning approval for high speed rail — Newcastle to Sydney

One railway, two complete environmental assessments, on two clocks, to two decision-makers, under two sets of requirements — with the Commonwealth as proponent on one side and approver on the other.

infrastructure194 km of new dedicated high speed rail, roughly 115 km in tunnel, four stations, crossing many local government areas skeleton compare across jurisdictions

This is a structural skeleton, not a measured process. The steps, the authorities and the sequence are researched from this jurisdiction's published requirements and are broadly right. The durations are a uniform template applied across all jurisdictions, so the differences between them on the comparison page are mostly an artefact of that template rather than evidence about Australia. Do not quote the day counts. Replacing them with sourced figures for even one jurisdiction would make this page genuinely useful.

2700 days elapsed
longest dependent chain

15 discrete steps
across 3 bodies

0% waiting on availability
scheduling or queue, not assessment

490 days saved by concurrency
vs. 3190 if run end-to-end

Where the time goes

Critical-path days only. Steps that run alongside others are real work but do not lengthen the process, so counting them here would overstate the prize.

applicant	1275d	Waiting on the applicant to supply or fix something.
third party	1080d	Waiting on an external body outside the regulator's control.
assessment	300d	Someone is genuinely evaluating the merits.
statutory	45d	A legislated period that must elapse regardless of readiness.

The process, step by step

Applies when: A Commonwealth agency proposes linear infrastructure crossing state land that triggers both the EPBC Act and the NSW critical state significant infrastructure pathway.

#	Step	Who	Why it waits	Clock	Typical	Basis
1	Development phase: route definition and reference design application Two year phase funded in February 2026 to take the route to a design that can be assessed and costed.	High Speed Rail Authority	applicant	—	730 reported	—
2	Geotechnical, biodiversity and heritage field investigation assessment Survey along a 194 km corridor, including seasonal ecological survey windows and Aboriginal cultural heritage assessment. after Development phase: route definition and reference design 1430d slack	High Speed Rail Authority	third party	—	540 estimate	—
3	Refer the action under the EPBC Act application after Geotechnical, biodiversity and heritage field investigation 1420d slack	Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water	applicant	—	10 estimate	EPBC Act 1999 (Cth), s 68
4	Controlled action decision decision after Refer the action under the EPBC Act 1380d slack	Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water	assessment	28	40 legislated	EPBC Act 1999 (Cth), s 75
5	Secretary's environmental assessment requirements (NSW) referral NSW sets what the environmental impact statement must address, after consulting agencies and councils. after Geotechnical, biodiversity and heritage field investigation 1340d slack	NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure	assessment	—	90 estimate	Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW), Division 5.2
6	Prepare the NSW environmental impact statement application after Secretary's environmental assessment requirements (NSW) 975d slack	High Speed Rail Authority	applicant	—	365 estimate	—
7	Prepare Commonwealth assessment documentation application Documentation addressing the Commonwealth guidelines for the matters protected under the EPBC Act. after Controlled action decision 1140d slack	High Speed Rail Authority	applicant	—	240 estimate	—
8	Public exhibition of the environmental impact statement (NSW) notification after Prepare the NSW environmental impact statement 930d slack	NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure	statutory	28	45 estimate	—
9	Commonwealth public comment period notification after Prepare Commonwealth assessment documentation 1120d slack	Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water	statutory	20	20 legislated	EPBC Act 1999 (Cth), ss 93-95
10	Submissions report and amendment report application Respond to every submission received on a corridor crossing many communities. after Public exhibition of the environmental impact statement (NSW), Commonwealth public comment period 750d slack	High Speed Rail Authority	applicant	—	180 estimate	—
11	NSW assessment report assessment after Submissions report and amendment report 600d slack	NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure	assessment	—	150 estimate	—
12	Commonwealth recommendation report assessment after Submissions report and amendment report 630d slack	Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water	queue	—	120 estimate	EPBC Act 1999 (Cth), s 100
13	NSW infrastructure approval decision after NSW assessment report 540d slack	NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure	assessment	—	60 estimate	Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW), s 5.19
14	Commonwealth approval and conditions decision after Commonwealth recommendation report 570d slack	Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water	assessment	56	60 legislated	EPBC Act 1999 (Cth), s 133
15	Corridor acquisition registration Acquire the land and interests the corridor requires, by agreement or compulsorily. after NSW infrastructure approval	—	third party	—	540 estimate	—

on the critical path scheduling/queue = delay not caused by the assessment itself

Machine-flagged questions

These are produced automatically from the dependency graph. They are questions for a practitioner, not findings. Each one needs a person who has run this process to say whether the constraint is real.

Steps that may not need to wait

Secretary's environmental assessment requirements (NSW) is a referral queued behind work by a different body. Does it consume that body's output, or is it merely sequenced that way by habit?
Public exhibition of the environmental impact statement (NSW) is a notification queued behind work by a different body. Does it consume that body's output, or is it merely sequenced that way by habit?
Commonwealth public comment period is a notification queued behind work by a different body. Does it consume that body's output, or is it merely sequenced that way by habit?

Proposed changes

Publish and reuse ecological survey data instead of resurveying digitise ~180d
The longest single delay in federal environmental approval happens before any application exists: waiting for the season in which a species can lawfully be surveyed. Survey data is collected at proponents' expense, submitted to government, and then not made usable by the next proponent on the next block.
One environmental impact statement for high speed rail, not two merge
A Commonwealth agency building a Commonwealth priority prepares two environmental impact assessments of the same railway, runs two public comment periods with the affected communities, and waits on two decisions. On the database's own numbers this costs almost no calendar time — which is a more interesting finding than if it did.

Sources

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth)
Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW), Division 5.2
Infrastructure Australia, Stage 3 Evaluation Report, High Speed Rail Sydney-Newcastle, November 2025
Railway Gazette International, 'Newcastle-Sydney high speed railway moves into development phase', 3 March 2026
AECOM, appointment as Environmental Planning and Assessment Advisor for the development phase, 25 August 2026

Something wrong here?

This page is wrong in some way -- every page like it is. If you have run this process, the most useful thing you can do is tell us which step took longer than we say and why. Edit data/processes/au-high-speed-rail-approvals.toml and open a pull request, or send us the correction.