Quantifying wider economic impacts of high-speed connectivity and accessibility: The case of the Karnataka high-speed rail

Abstract

Inter-regional high-speed connectivity and accessibility through public transportation modes such as High-Speed Rail (HSR) are crucial for sustainable and uniform development. However, it can be a costly affair considering the enormous capital it requires against direct user benefits. Thus, quantifying Wider Economic Impacts (WEI), such as productivity changes at the organizational level, becomes an important task to include in the cost-benefit analysis. However, lack of research exists towards a method that quantifies productivity changes at an organizational (institutional or industrial) level. This study proposes an optimization problem to optimize infrastructure investment from an organizational perspective in an upcoming campus. The optimization problem manifests the impact of high-speed connectivity on organizational productivity by integrating land price elasticity and workforce availability for inter-regional movement. A case study of a new institutional IISc campus in the upcoming Science City at Challakere in the state of Karnataka, India, is taken that gives a perspective for decision-making to improve productivity for a given investment and inter-regional connectivity level. The productivity is measured in terms of the number of publications, and the transportation connectivity is assessed with four scenarios: current road network and HSR with speeds 180,250 and 320 kmph. The result of the case study shows that maximum achievable productivity gets affected with transportation connectivity level (Road < HSR 180 < HSR 250 < HSR 320). In different scenarios, Road, HSR 180, HSR 250 and HSR 320, maximum achievable productivity is 237, 266, 272 and 277, respectively. Quantifying the productivity in monetary terms has the potential of appraising cost-benefit analysis for HSR projects.