Access to and from Canberra's high-speed rail terminal would rarely rely on public transport, according to the federal government's final report into the proposed very fast train network.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But the ACT government insists the report is conservative in its projections and that public transport connections will be a major feature of the Canberra terminal.
The phase two report, released on Thursday, states that taxis would be the most-used form of transport to and from the terminal proposed for below Ainslie Avenue.
At its peak use by 2065, the Civic terminal would be accessed by taxis 74 per cent of the time, while public transport would be used only 5 per cent of the time.
''Taxi would be the most significant access and egress mode with 74 per cent share,'' page 275 of the report states.
''Given the geographically dispersed catchment area, no specific additional transport corridor infrastructure is proposed to improve public transport access mode shares.''
''The recently announced light rail scheme, which has a hub at Civic, would add to the proposed station's connectivity and the creation of a major transport hub.''
Canberra Airport managing director Stephen Byron has welcomed the plans for the high-speed rail and said a Civic terminal was a sensible option even though he has promoted the idea of the terminal being at the airport.
But he said when it comes to predicted access to and from Ainslie Avenue, there appears to be areas the report hasn't properly considered.
''It states that Civic was the preferred site for a terminal because of its location in the city and access to public transport, yet it also states that there would only be 5 per cent use of public transport,'' he said.
''That's a surprising coherency problem with some of its analysis.''
Mr Byron said the airport currently had about 4 per cent use of public transport and a plan to boost that to 10 per cent by 2022 and to 15 per cent by 2027.
With a light rail link, that could be lifted to 25 to 30 per cent.
''We want to have a discussion with the ACT government about a light rail link,'' Mr Byron said.
''It is not for us to advocate now one site over another for the high-speed rail terminal in Canberra. But our planning is to be ready for it, wherever it is.
''It is not as though they've started building it at Civic yet and as the analysis in the report shows, there could yet be some problems.''
ACT Environment and Sustainable Development Minister Simon Corbell, who will sit on the high-speed rail advisory group's ministerial panel, said one of the reasons the Civic terminal was the best option was because of its access to public transport.
''The assumptions such as the 5 per cent public transport use are pretty conservative, but that is essential for a comprehensive study like this one,'' Mr Corbell said.
''Having a station in the city centre is important because of its closeness to public transport. And it makes sense to use public funds to ensure the public transport services are ready for the required connectivity.
''Having the high-speed rail terminal there is all the more reason to future-proof public transport networks.''
Mr Corbell also said the high predicted use of taxis at the rail terminal would be partly due to a ''transfer of the passenger market'' as more people swapped airline travel between Canberra and Sydney for the very fast train.
