High-speed Rail Link Research Articles

Rail Based Public Transport Facility to Large Indian Airports

The growth of Indian aviation sector in the past one decade is quite remarkable and between 2000 & 2010 air operations have expanded by 160%, in terms of domestic passenger volume India now ranks 4th after US, China and Japan. Indian aviation is set for transformational growth, Center for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA) projections indicate that airport passenger traffic will grow from 143 million in 2010/11 to 452 million by 2020/21. To meet this ever growing demand and to provide world class infrastructure to its users, Government of India (GOI) decided to develop airport infrastructure on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode and has taken a number of initiatives to open the sector for private participation in modernizing existing airports as well as setting up new greenfield airports. However present airport infrastructure creation /up gradation policy of GOI has not considered provision of rail based transport access as an essential part of airport infrastructure facility in the same spirit as it was considered elsewhere in the world. In this paper, to understand the traffic and travel issues of the airport users and to appreciate the importance of rail based public transport access to airports, the case studies of existing Delhi Airport Metro Express (DAME) of Delhi airport, proposed metro link to Mumbai airport and proposed high speed rail link of Bengaluru are presented in detail in this paper.

Do New Transit Lines Necessarily Improve User Cost in the Transit System?

The paper considers a public transport network without congestion where a fixed number of passengers want to go from A to B, from B to C and from A to C via B. We show under what conditions the addition of a new direct line AC, which avoids the use of the AB and BC links, would increase total user and operator costs. This paradox can be relevant for any network where the additional line AC is operated by an operator other than that of the AB and BC lines. The line (AC) can be either a new air transport link competing with an existing High Speed Rail (HSR) network or an HSR link or direct bus line that bypasses a local train network. Our result raises serious concerns with respect to the decentralized management of transit systems.

China's Eagerness to Export Its High-speed Rail Expertise to ASEAN Members

The Chinese government is adopting a 'going-out' strategy to promote China's high-end rail technology overseas and strengthen its global competitiveness. This article examines China's high-speed rail diplomacy towards the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and uncovers the link between China's ambitious foreign policies towards the ASEAN and both national pride and commercial stakes in promoting high-speed rail in the region. It analyses the rationale behind China's high-speed rail development proposals for the ASEAN in the context of the rise of China and rivalry between China and Japan. China is especially eager to participate in the construction of high-speed railroads with ASEAN members. The high-speed rail link can forge regional economic integration within the ASEAN. For ASEAN member states, China is a key external investor and contractor for their infrastructure development. Nevertheless, China is facing serious challenges to the realization of its proposals.

Pulling teeth from history: DNA from ancient teeth can help to yield information about our ancestors' health, diet and diseases.

Molecular biology has made considerable contributions to the study of human history from the earliest days of our species, when our ancestors began to walk on the savannah, to the dawn of civilization and the more recent history of mankind. The analysis of contemporary mitochondrial DNA, for example, has told us that Homo sapiens first appeared in Africa; the sequencing of the Neanderthal genome has revealed that Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis lived along each other and interbred before the latter disappeared; last year, the analysis of DNA extracted from a skeleton found under a parking lot in Leicester, UK, showed that it was the remains of King Richard III. Although the advent of next‐generation sequencing and advances in bioinformatics have boosted research using ancient DNA, a major hurdle has always been the quantity and quality of the DNA itself: DNA molecules quickly degrade over time into smaller fragments, and microbial contamination makes it challenging to identify human fragments within a sample. Intriguingly, teeth have proven to be an excellent source of high‐quality ancient DNA, yielding insights into the evolution of the human diet, disease and immunity since the onset of agriculture some 10,000 years ago. Dental calculus has been the most complete source of historical sequence data, especially for probing oral microbiome populations. At the same time, dental pulp—the connective tissue at the centre of teeth—has been an important source of information about ancient diseases. Archaeologist Keith Dobney, from the University of Aberdeen in the UK, and his colleagues first identified the potential of dental calculus as a source of information about past diets and microbial populations long before the advent of ancient DNA studies [1]. Now, almost 30 years later, Dobney is among those at the forefront of the revolution in ancient DNA analysis. “It appears that dental …

Global governance and communicative action: a study of democratic participation during planning for the Lyon-Turin rail link

Organisation-stakeholder engagement during planning of a high-speed rail link between France and Italy is described and analysed in this paper. Conceptualising organisation-citizen engagement as a form of deliberative democracy, the study's theoretical framework draws upon literature from communication, social and political science. Following a review of governance for transnational organisation-stakeholder engagement, communication methods used by one transnational organisation, Lyon-Turin Ferroviaire (LTF), to engage in 'discursive legitimacy' with affected parties, is studied. A qualitative case study approach examines whether LTF's engagement with stakeholders provides opportunities for democratic participation rather than creating a democratic deficit in the public sphere. Results point to a lack of mechanisms through which transnational policy makers can be held accountable-leading in this case, to a legitimacy crisis for institutions involved, threatening their ability to justify the economic and transportation viability of the project. This article is of interest to academics in communication and social sciences, managers working in an international context and communication professionals.

Optimizing High-Speed Rail and Air Transport Intermodal Passenger Network Design

How does one quantitatively analyze intermodal passenger systems? Can high-speed rail links reduce costs to airline services? A method for analyzing transportation networks that involve more than one mode is presented. With intermodal costs considered in detail from both the operator and the traveler aspects (including time costs and service benefits and negative costs), optimal network designs that reduce overall costs for both stakeholders are created. As a case study, the potential impact on optimization of transportation network design for air and high-speed rail travel around the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe is examined. Key aspects of the model design and assumptions, including the sparse and contrasting intermodal valuations used, weighting of the cost components, and the cost to implement inter modality are evaluated. The optimization procedure, using a linear Boolean mathematical program, shows that the benefits of intermodality are best captured when a more holistic intermodal product is offered, and that high-speed rail becomes progressively less competitive as traveler costs rise and there is a discernible shortage of traveler valuations of intermodal service attributes.

Influence of the High-Speed Rail on the Spatial Pattern of Regional Tourism – Taken Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Rail of China as Example

This paper compares volumes, flows, and spatial patterns of traffic before and after the opening of the high-speed rail (HSR) link between Beijing and Shanghai. Evidence emerges of a significant change in the shape of isochrones within the region. Under the influence, the temporal and spatial distance between the source region and tourist destination is greatly reduced. Equally, multiple contact modes are more apparent and the overall structure of tourism flow network is closer after the opening of the HSR service. As can be seen from the above, the HSR has a significant impact on regional tourism traffic accessibility and then has a significant on the temporal and spatial distribution of regional tourism resource. The tourism flow will respond positively to the “space compression” effect.

Barriers to entry into European aviation markets revisited: A review and analysis of managerial perceptions

This paper reviews the literature and then investigates the perception of European airline managers (from 58 airlines) with regard to entry barriers to aviation markets. We aim to identify the perceived effectiveness of entry barriers and how the perception differs across management levels, business models and regions. Our results suggest that access to airport slots and competing high-speed rail links are perceived as the most effective entry barriers within the European single market. Other key findings include that particularly regional airlines fear predatory pricing/behaviour and that frequent flyer programs have lost some of their perceived effectiveness.

High-Speed Rail in European Medium-Sized Cities: Stakeholders and Urban Development

In order to evaluate the degree of local development that a high-speed rail (HSR) link will bring to a city, it is essential to take into account the capacity of the stakeholders in the local community to organize themselves to take advantage of their endogenous resources. Through the application of a new methodology, an analysis is proposed of the development process as experienced by three medium-sized cities with an HSR link: Lleida, Spain, Avignon, France, and Novara, Italy. In the conclusions, attention is drawn to certain problems typically encountered by medium-sized cities when implementing their local projects. These are basically the existence of a weak network of local stakeholders, a low level of involvement of the urban area and its region in the local development project, and a pattern of conflictive multiscale relationships. In many cases, the fragility of this urban context is due to a lack of adequate processes of internal and external governance.

High-Speed Rail versus Air Transportation

Travel time savings, better quality of supplied services, greater comfort for users, and improved accessibility are the main factors of success for high-speed rail (HSR) links. In this paper, results are presented from a revealed and stated preference survey concerning HSR and air transport users in the Madrid–Barcelona, Spain, corridor. The data gathered from the stated preference survey were used to calibrate a modal choice model aimed at explaining competition between HSR and air transportation in the corridor. The major findings of the paper describe the demand response to different policy scenarios considering improvements in the level of transport services. From the model, prices and service frequency were found to be among the most important variables in competing with the other mode. In addition, it was found that check-in and security controls at the airport are a crucial variable for users in making their modal choices. Other policies, such as the improvement of parking facilities at train stations, play a secondary role.

Intermodal competition in the London–Paris passenger market: High-Speed Rail and air transport

This paper studies inter- and intramodal competition in the London–Paris passenger market during the period 2003–2009. We identify the degree to and conditions under which High-Speed Rail is a viable substitute for airline travel. Using pooled cross-sectional data we estimate multinomial and mixed logit models to examine actual travel behaviour. Our model allows us to analyse the reaction of passenger behaviour on the withdrawal of aviation alternatives and the completion of the High-Speed Rail link between the two cities in November 2007. The results show that travel time and frequency are the main determinants of travel behaviour. The valuation of total travel times changes over the years following the opening of the High-Speed Rail link. Furthermore, we show that the direct elasticity of market share with respect to frequency for a number of aviation alternatives is above 1, indicating that these alternatives are not able to maximise profits. These alternatives subsequently left the market in our sample period. For the remaining aviation alternatives, except for easyJet, we find elasticities of market share with respect to frequency close to 1. Therefore, we conjecture that competition in this market will decline in the long run.

Cost-Benefit Analysis of High-Speed Rail Link between Hong Kong and Mainland China

The Legislative Council in Hong Kong has approved a funding of USD$8.60 billion to build the high-speed rail (HSR) line linking mainland China. HSR is a break-through technology that allows trains running at a speed over 250 km per hour. The most controversial part of the HSR investment is whether its cost could be compensated by the social benefits. In this study, a cost-benefit analysis of the Hong Kong to mainland HSR (HKM-HSR) line is carried out. First, all the direct and indirect costs, and social benefits are defined; then, monetary equivalents are assigned to these elements; third, all the future values are discounted into present values and aggregated. The results show that the project has a positive net present value (NPV) up to USD$2,068.49 million, which proves that the investment is worth. In addition, other transport alternatives, i.e. the existing roadway and conventional railway, are examined and compared with HKM- HSR, which unveils that HSR has the largest positive NPV among these three passenger transportation modes because of its excellent performance in ticket revenue, travel time savings and safety improvement.

Analysis of mobility impacts of the high speed Rome–Naples rail link using withinday dynamic mode service choice models

The decrease in travel times, the better quality of the supplied services and the improved accessibility are the main factors of success of High Speed Rail links. In this paper, evidence of the impacts of the High Speed Rail line between Rome and Naples in Italy will be provided on the basis of a survey which was carried out in March 2008. A Revealed Preference (RP) survey was undertaken by Trenitalia (the Commercial Division of Italian railways) and three different questionnaires were prepared to be submitted to car users, Intercity train users and High Speed train users. They all have in common questions concerning the socioeconomic characteristics of the users, questions related to the existence of possible time constraints for the trip undertaken and questions concerning previous travel choices. Data from Trenitalia highlighted that the use of car and of Intercity trains had almost remained unchanged during the few years of operation of the High Speed service. However, a generated demand was derived from the use of this High Speed Rail link and this means that the introduction of the High Speed service between Rome and Naples probably had impacts, as excepted, on mobility choices (i.e. increase in trip frequency, new trips never done before, etc.). Data gathered were used first of all to understand this phenomenon and then to estimate a mode choice model to reproduce/forecast modal share. Specifically the choice between car and rail was modelled through a schedule based approach and with a Nested Logit model with the “train” utility function including late and early penalties.

Ligne à Grande Vitesse et marchés immobiliers résidentiels à Reims : entre attractivité, aménités et anticipations

Depuis l’annonce de la création de la LGV Est-européenne en 2000, de nombreux acteurs considèrent que la croissance des prix de l’immobilier à Reims est imputable au TGV et à l’arrivée possible de nouveaux ménages et que cette tendance n’ira qu’en s’accentuant. A l’aide de la littérature économique relative au fonctionnement des marchés immobiliers et par l’analyse des transactions immobilières individuelles de 1999 à 2006 dans l’aire urbaine de Reims, nous montrons que ce constat doit être nuancé. Si le TGV apparaît comme un élément qui a participé à la croissance des prix de manière très localisée et à une redynamisation de la promotion immobilière, ce n’est pas en raison de l’arrivée massive de nouveaux ménages, mais d’anticipations par les acteurs.

Breaking the Deadlock: Lessons from Cross-Border Spatial Projects in Flanders and the Netherlands

This paper explores the specific char acteristics of decision-making in cross-border spatial projects and draws some lessons for European territorial cooperation. This is done by examining three major infrastructure projects between the Netherlands and Flanders: the construction of a high-speed rail link between Antwerp and Rotterdam, the deepening and widening of the Scheldt River, and the reopening of the Iron Rhine freight railway between Antwerp and the German Ruhrgebiet (which cuts across Dutch territory). The analysis is structured into four issues that are often considered problematic for large spatial projects. First, a sound analysis of the actual problem that spatial projects are supposed to solve and a comparison of alternative courses of action are often lacking. Second, projects usually take longer than planned. Third, projects often encounter strong opposition. Fourth, impact research can be easily discredited in the decision-making process. The paper shows that cross-border projects encounter specific problems in all four areas, some of which could be ameliorated by more involvement by the European Union.

Development and Design of Large Infrastructure Projects: Disregarded Alternatives and Issues of Spatial Planning

The Dutch Parliamentary Commission on Infrastructural Projects has conducted a parliamentary inquiry into the decisionmaking process and implementation control in two major infrastructural projects: the Betuwe Freight Line between Rotterdam and Germany, and the HSL - Zuid— the high-speed rail link which will connect Amsterdam with Belgium and France. The commission proposes a new assessment framework which gives parliament better control of the decisionmaking process for future large projects. In this contribution I discuss the development and design of large infrastructure projects, including the way the territorial impact of these projects is mitigated. I observe that problems are often approached from extremely narrow terms of reference, from one favourite solution, whereby countless potentially worthwhile alternative solutions are dismissed out of hand or enter the picture too late. In addition, problems concerning the mitigation of territorial impacts of infrastructure are misjudged in the beginning, and lead to cost overruns at a later stage. There is too much focus on the infrastructure track and not enough focus on area development. Also, the operation of the infrastructure project is misjudged and attention is too narrowly focused on the investment aspects of the project. I formulate some lessons for the future, not only for the Netherlands, but also for other modern countries. The timely generation and acknowledgement of infrastructure alternatives enhances the democratic process and quality of public decisionmaking.

Assessment of the Health Impacts of Particulates from the Redevelopment of Kings Cross

The Kings Cross/St. Pancras area has been a rail transport hub from Central London to the Midlands and North Eastern England since the middle of the nineteenth century and dust from the Kings Cross railway lands was even described by Charles Dickens. The Channel Tunnel high speed Rail Link (CTRL) is being constructed between 2001 and 2007 to connect continental Europe to Central London. The CTRL and associated development will help regenerate an area that is surrounded by deprived high density housing estates. London Borough of Camden has set up an extensive particulate monitoring programme to determine if there are any health impacts on local residents from emissions from the demolition and construction work. This article assesses the results from particulate measurements in 2003-2004 and compares this to baseline conditions before the redevelopment work began. The evidence suggests that although 2003 had higher than average pollution levels in the UK as a whole, even higher levels of particulates in the size range PM(10)-PM(2.5) (defined as PM(coarse)) were measured in Kings Cross. Due to the size of these particulates, they tend to be released from construction works rather than transport or secondary particulate sources. Concentrations in 2004 were lower than 2003, but this was primarily due to meteorological conditions. The paper also looks at the health of the local population and discusses whether these elevated levels are creating a problem and legally constitute a statutory nuisance. The Council continues to work with the contractors to try and ensure best practical means to minimise dust emissions and their effect on local residents.

Benefits of an Edinburgh—Newcastle high-speed rail link

The greatest use of air travel within the UK is between central Scotland and London. This paper discusses the construction of a high-speed rail link (350 km/h capability) between Edinburgh and Newcastle to reduce the Edinburgh–London rail journey time to an equivalent flight time, with the objective of achieving greatest modal shift from air to rail travel with consequent reductions in carbon emissions. The paper describes the existing rail route and its limitations. A broad specification and a possible proposed route that would utilise the existing rail network and stations at each end are discussed. The paper also covers the overall costs of relative transport modes, how these modes can be equally treated and possible sources of finance. Short-term East Coast Main Line capacity improvements and the longer-term view that an Edinburgh–Newcastle link would be only a start in the development of high-speed rail on this route are discussed. It is concluded that the UK should follow the lead of other European countries and develop a high-speed rail network, primarily as a means of reducing carbon emissions from aircraft.

Megaprojects and Risk: An Anatomy of Ambition

Megaprojects and Risk: An Anatomy of Ambition. By Bent Flyvbjerg, Nils Bruzelius, and Werner Rothengatter. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. 218p. 20.00 paper.Multibillion dollar infrastructural projects, or megaprojects such as the Channel Tunnel, the Oresund bridge between Denmark and Sweden, the Hong Kong and Denver airports, or many high-speed rail links in Europe, continue to be built in record numbers despite poor performance and colossal losses. Why? The authors provide ample evidence to substantiate their claim that such projects are systematically misrepresented in public and private deliberations because many of the participants in the process have incentives to underestimate costs, overestimate revenues, undervalue environmental impact, and overvalue economic development effects.

The Bothnia Railway Link - improving transportation in northern Scandinavia

On the 27th of November 1997, an agreement for the construction of the Bothnia Line was entered into between the Swedish government and four municipalities (Kramfors, Oernskoeldsvik, Nordmaling and Umeaa) in the counties of Vaesternorrland and Vaesterbotten. The Bothnia Line, a 190 km, single-track, high-speed rail link running from Kramfors in the south to Umeaa in the north, is one of Scandinavia's largest railway projects in modern times. As part of the agreement, a company, Botniabanan AB, was set up to be in charge of designing and building the line. The project's goal is the improvement of communications and freight transport in the north of Scandinavia. The present main railway, which runs inland and was built early in the 20th century, is nearing its capacity ceiling. A fully developed Bothnia Line will vastly improve passenger and goods transport to and from northern Scandinavia. Amongst the features of the new, 190 km, single-track rail link are 22 passing places, 140 bridges and around 39 km of rock tunnels. The project is split into 130 major contracts. The largest of these is for the 32 km line between Offersjoen and Bjaellstaaan. Work started in August 1999 and is scheduled for completion in 2008. The total estimated cost is SEK 15 billion. The project's 39 km of rock tunnels includes 15 rail tunnels totalling 24.4 km in length. Service tunnels account for the remaining 14.6 km. Four of the service tunnels are being built parallel to the larger rail tunnels - Aaskott (3.3 km), Namntall (6.0 km), Bjoernboele (5.2 km) and Varvsberg (2.1 km). The service tunnels for Aaskott and Varvsberg are 2.3 and 1.1 km long, respectively. The total volume of the rock tunnels is around 2.2 million cubic metres. The tunnels are being excavated through Scandinavian gneiss/granite formations and meta-greywacke. The rock is generally of good quality with typical Q-values (Barton et al., 1974) of between 1 and 100. Grouted in rock bolts and fibre-reinforced shotcrete are being employed as the standard forms of rock reinforcement. Continuous pre-injection is being used in the construction of all tunnels. Two separate stretches (118 and 102 m) of the 1,450 m long Stranneberg tunnel had little or no rock burden. In these cases, reinforcement was provided by, respectively, jet grouting and soil freezing. Final sealing and rock reinforcement is provided by concrete cladding. Jet grouted sections have a 65 cm lining for the floor and a 55 cm lining for roof and walls. The figures for soil frozen sections are 70 and 65 cm, respectively. So far (late July 2003), four tunnels, with a combined length of 4.4 km, have been completed. (A) Reprinted with permission from Elsevier. For the covering abstract see ITRD E124500.