$31 in todays money so closer to $50 by the time it is actually running and the fair is adjusted for inflation right?

Also didn't Utopia to an episode on high speed rail?

How about we build the bloody thing before bragging about the ticket price.

Utopia sure did, because of this (Wikipedia):

High-speed rail in Australia has been under investigation since the early 1980s.[1][2] Every federal government since this time has investigated the feasibility of constructing high-speed rail with speeds above 200 km/h, but to date nothing has ever gone beyond the detailed planning stage.

I'll believe it when I see it

ahh Australia, big on the talking then just build more roads and coal mines.

we could have a fast train (not a VFT) from Sydney to Canberra now, a bjt of track realignment and some new rolling stock.