Will Australia ever get a high-speed rail network?

In federal elections of the past, big-ticket items like a high-speed rail network have often been rolled out as the centrepiece of the campaign.

It's easy to fall in love with the concept of a world-class train network connecting the country.

But despite four decades of political promises and hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars spent on studies and business cases, we've been left at the station.

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