Many countries in Europe have shown it is possible to lay, and maintain, an ordinary main line that can cope with speeds up to 200km/h (230km/h in Portugal).

On Australia's curved alignments, that can be exploited by adopting tilting trains.

The snag then becomes getting from Sydney Central to Macarthur. That also is soluble. We need to adopt thinking introduced in Japan decades ago.

Fast trains overtake slower ones at key nodes (that happens on traditional lines and on the world-famous Shinkansen routes). In that suburban distance, maybe one could suffice; three would be plenty.

The end result: two hours and 30 minutes for a very modest investment, an average of about 120km/h.

The ACT government is fast tracking $10 million worth of infrastructure projects, with the aim of completing their construction by the end of June 2020. Good to hear.

Can we, the residents of Irving Street, Phillip, suggest they add the traffic lights and pedestrian lights at the intersection of Launceston and Irving Streets to the list? This should have been completed three years ago for the safety of hundreds of residents and visitors to Irving Street. Yet we still have to wait until 2022.

Enjoying an hour-long walk with an "appropriately distanced" friend at Weston Park last Thursday, we were overtaken by at least 20 cyclists.

Of that number, only two managed to warn us of their presence by ringing their bell.

Our conversation and ease on such a beautiful day was spoilt by the need to crane our necks constantly in order to ensure our own safety.

Cyclists, please follow the rules and ring your bells.

It really tugged at the heartstrings that so many across Australia observed this Anzac Day at the end of their driveways with poppies and candles.

Given that young families, together with those who, because of age or disability, have often found it difficult to attend past Dawn Services, how wonderful it would be if what happened this year happened again next year and in successive years.

Were this practice to become, in future years, a traditional means at dawn of commemorating those who made the ultimate sacrifice, it would also be a great way of getting to know one's neighbours.

That would engender a greater sense of community. Lest we forget.

While we must not forget the many who went to battle in defence of Australia, including three of my uncles in World War II, we must not forget it was the war which killed our soldiers.

Therefore, logically, we should wish for fewer wars. Wars are not generated by soldiers but by politicians who have reasons for committing Australian soldiers - other than concern for their lives - to international conflict.

The evils of Hitler, Mussolini, and Japan in World War II had to be resisted. That said, there has been less justification for many of the other conflicts we have been involved in.

Vietnam and Iraq were political wars, rationalised (not justified) by politicians' lies.

Why do Anzac Day speakers never abhor war and vow to prevent it? Could it be that many are military people and their business is war? Could it be our "leaders" want us to be war-conscious so when the next US military adventure arrives we're unquestioningly part of it? I will attend Anzac Day "celebrations" when those who speak, and later appear on TV, are talking about stopping war rather than celebrating it.

The present worldwide pandemic has quite rightly dominated the news cycle. But the passing of Dr Catherine Hamlin, on March 18, 2020, at the age of 96, should not go unnoticed.

Born in Ryde, Sydney, in 1924, Catherine graduated from the University of Sydney Medical School in 1946, and married Dr Reg Hamlin. In 1958 the couple answered an advertisement seeking gynaecologists to set up a school of midwifery in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

What began as a three-year stay turned into a lifetime of service, treating women suffering from obstetric fistulas and other complications of childbirth.

The local hospital had turned such patients away, but the Hamlins pioneered life-changing reconstructive surgery and care for this humiliating condition.

Today there are six Hamlin Fistula Hospitals across Ethiopia. More than 60,000 Ethiopian women suffering with obstetric fistulas have received surgery. Today the Hamlin College of Midwives trains nurses to carry on the work.

Dr Hamlin was a woman of profound Christian faith and an outstanding example of Christian love and compassion in action. She and her late husband deserve to be remembered as great Australians.

Mark Sproat (Letters, April 22) disingenuously says Dr Norman Swan, Tim Flannery and Al Gore are outstanding alarmists, but does not provide evidence to back up his claim.

I believe each of them comments, writes, and publishes information backed by science based on observation and measurement gathered over many years.

Tim Flannery's book We are The Weather Makers, published in 2006, is a good place to start if you want a broad background on the increasing speed of global environmental rate of change.

We will survive the coronavirus threat through either vaccination or disease management because its effects were observed and measured.

That triggered widespread alarm followed by a global response.

The rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide, and the effect it is having on the global climate, demands the same approach.

I read with interest the article "No justification for high price of petrol (April 23, p3)". It reminded me of an episode of The Hollowmen, that oh-so-true parody of political spin, where a "veiled threat" has now been lifted one notch to "fierce criticism". There has also been a threat of "punitive legislative action".

I suppose Mr Barr could issue a clear and unequivocal "strong call for restraint", which he could then ramp up to an "urge" - or, failing that, "a clear call for dialogue".

I am aware petrol has been available in Adelaide at under 90 cents a litre and that it costs far more than seven cents a litre to transport fuel to that city. When are our "leaders" actually going to do something that works?

Andrew Barr has written another strongly worded letter to fuel companies about price-gouging in the ACT, asking them to cease the practice. Only six months ago a Legislative Assembly inquiry, chaired by one of the many first-term government MLAs, found there was no evidence of fuel price-gouging, despite acknowledging a 20 cents per litre differential between Canberra and Sydney.

There has always been price-gouging in fuel prices in the ACT. This is based on the perceived capacity of the community to pay.

The difference is the Chief Minister now acknowledges this. However, more seriously, the latest action amounts to profiteering during a time of crisis. The ACCC could consider using its powers to bring criminal charges against those responsible.

The ACT government could invoke existing legislation to set prices, rather than just writing ineffectual letters.

The price of a barrel of crude oil went into negative territory last week, but Woolworths at Kippax was still charging $1.18 per litre last Thursday.

The UK death rate per capita is 100 times ours. We have 88 here in total versus 21,678 there. So, would all the know-it-alls telling our governments what to do please shut up?

Even if there is an element of luck in our situation, our various governments and their advisers have obviously got a lot right. They deserve praise, not constant carping and criticism.

The challenge now is to get things going again without generating a second wave of infections. Let's hope our key people keep getting it right.

COVIDSafe will only react to contacts lasting 15 minutes or more. The last time I shook hands it took three seconds. These days that is forbidden, Do Trump's skills include writing software?

I'm waiting for Trump to volunteer for a COVID-19 trial involving the injection of disinfectant. Who knows? It may rewire his brain and improve his thought processes.

M Catanzariti (Letters, April 28) should rethink his criticism of the South Coast populace. Yes, there is a non-representative group of Canberra visitor critics quick to have a whinge, not unlike Michael himself. But, in time, and with an easing of the pandemic, these incidents will hopefully soon be done and dusted.

Isn't M Catanzariti (Payback time, Letters April 28) a nasty pastie? I'm glad he's not my nextdoor neighbour.

Given China is upset by our desire to investigate the source of the virus, "suggesting" its citizens may cease visiting or buying our products, we could consider confiscating Chinese-owned Australian assets, starting with water licences, rural properties, electricity distribution assets and so on.

By unleashing the coronavirus, China has done us the favour of forcing us to live more simply. Our previous way of life was unsustainable, both for ourselves, and for the planet as a whole.

America imposed trade restrictions on China. Now China has succeeded in imposing trade restrictions on the whole world. The score? China - 1, America - 0.

The NRL does not deserve special treatment under COVID-19. The behaviour of Latrell Mitchell and Josh Addo-Carr was shameful. Their "apologies" were also gob-smackingly poor. The NRL and its spoiled "stars" should wake up to what we are going through.

Congestion on Kings Avenue Bridge is amplified because only the path on the north side is accessible to pedestrians and cyclists. It would be alleviated if pedestrian ramps were built on both sides of the southern end.

Kathryn Spurling (Letters, April 27) says she isn't normally an LNP voter. Neither is Turnbull, the traitor she defends.

I'm not surprised Liberals are calling for Turnbull's expulsion from their party. He never fitted into the party. He aspired to be the PM, and that he did become. But he sacrificed a lot of principles. He should have started a party of his own.

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