High-speed Railway Project Research Articles

Air vs rail competition towards the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway project in China

China’s railway has launched an ambitious speed-up program, the Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway project, which challenges the civil aviation industry aggressively. This paper studies the current air-rail competition pattern considering passenger throughput, transport time, ticket fare and economic growth, and furthermore, uses the Logit Model to forecast the future competition situation between civil aviation and railway along the Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway areas. The study also offers proposals for civil aviation industry towards the challenges of the new railway project.

Application of Postassessment of Kyushy Shinkansen Network to Proposed U.S. High-Speed Railway Project

In April 2009 the Obama administration announced its strategic plan for high-speed rail in the United States. That plan stipulates the public benefits that are to be expected from a high-speed railway system. This paper describes a recently published report outlining the postassessment of the Kyushu Shinkansen project conducted by the Japan Railway Construction, Transport, and Technology Agency. The paper focuses on the effects of the implementation of the Kyushu Shinkansen project on passenger movements and changes in business and environmental aspects that are relevant to the U.S. strategic plan. This is the first analysis outside Japan of the postassessment of the Kyushu Shinkansen project. It first examines the postassessment analysis of changes in traffic volume. It then addresses the effects of the Kyushu Shinkansen project as they relate to the public benefits expected from the U.S. high-speed rail strategic plan, including the economic and social effects as well as the environmental benefits. The paper attempts to provide the Japanese case as a reference for the U.S. high-speed railway project. The postassessment of the Japanese case indicates that the new Kyushu Shinkansen route has an influence on travel behavior when people use rail for commuting and tourism. It also addresses the critical factor of how aviation demand can be shifted to rail to gain substantial benefits. Taking these points into consideration, the Obama administration's Vision for High-Speed Rail in America is just a starting point. A wider network of railways with more vigorous funding must be expected.

Ground improvement techniques for railway embankments

A high-speed railway project for trains of speeds of up to 160 km/h is currently being constructed between Rawang and Bidor (110 km long) in Peninsular Malaysia. The ground improvement methods adopted in the project are vibro-replacement with stone columns, dry deep soil mixing (cement columns), geogrid-reinforced piled embankments with individual pile caps and removal/replacement works. This paper provides a detailed insight into the design and implementation of vibro-replacement and the deep soil mixing treatment methods used in the project. The use of plate bearing tests and field instrumentation to monitor the performance of the stone columns and soil mixing ground treatment methods is also discussed. This paper also provides a brief overview of other treatment methods implemented in this high-speed railway project such as a pile embankment with geogrids and removal/replacement works.

STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT ASSESSMENT AND BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY CONSERVATION IN THE KOREAN HIGH-SPEED RAILWAY PROJECT

Biological diversity (biodiversity) is an essential issue in conservation and environmental impact assessment (EIA). Though Korea is relatively small, the country harbours over 29,800 species, making biodiversity and ecosystem conservation a central issue when an EIA is undertaken during development site selection. Indeed, an unfavourable biodiversity evaluation can halt a proposed or in-progress development, creating a societal conflict between conservationists and developers. To solve this, the Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) legislation was created in Korea to provide a systematic instrument for improving decision-making through early-stage environmental assessment. The SEA legislation was recently passed by the President's cabinet and is poised for implementation during 2005. Adoption of the SEA will facilitate better assessments of biodiversity during the early stages of the developmental process, preventing late-stage interruptions such as those seen in the Korean High-speed Railway Project (KHRP), which was recently halted due to poor biodiversity conservation around the development site. The original EIA of the KHRP did not appropriately address the biodiversity issues because most of the developmental plan had been set in place prior to evaluation of biodiversity in the affected areas. The KHRP caused leakage of mountain groundwater such that high elevation wetlands marked as ecosystem conservation areas by the Ministry of Environment became dry and lost their endemic amphibian species. Upon learning this, several national NGOs filed court cases on behalf of the Korean clawed salamander (Onachodaytylus fisheri), halting the project for some time. Thus, the lack of biodiversity consideration at the earliest stages of the KHRP created a social conflict. This paper examines how the implementation of an SEA during the KHRP would have minimised the social conflicts between biodiversity conservation and developmental processes.

High-speed Railway Project between Beijing and Shanghai in China

In this paper, we understand that the idea which high speed steel-wheel or super high speed linear should be selected at first, is not proper, and insist to it should be discussed in the future high speed transportation system from the point of view of the result of our traffic volume forecast together with ministry of railway of China and the possibility of linear in the future.

Taiwan High-Speed Railway Project.

Taiwan High-Speed Railway Project.

Les incidences spatiales de la grande vitesse

The objective of the research, referenced in the present article, was to try to evaluate the possible future spatial effects of the high-speed railway project “Swissmetro.” The study is innovative from a methodological point of view, in that it constitutes an evaluation “ex ante” of the spatial effects of “Swissmetro.” Spatial effects are understood as impacts on the location of social and economic activities as well as on the location of households in Switzerland. In order to be able to develop the model, reference was made to the work of Plassard and Offner known for their evaluations “ex post” of the effects of the TGV in France. According to them, transport infrastructures have no direct or automatic effects but are produced by interaction with the social and spatial context into which the new transport service is to be inserted. Our scenarios show that depending on this future context, “Swissmetro” will have very different impacts. Connecting main Swiss urban centers will mainly influence the day-to-...

RISK MANAGEMENT IN A LARGE-SCALE NEW RAILWAY TRANSPORT SYSTEM PROJECT: Evaluation of Korean High Speed Railway Experience

Risk management experiences of the Korean Seoul-Pusan high-speed railway (KTX) project since the planning stage are evaluated. One can clearly see the interplay of engineering and construction risks, financial risks and political risks in the development of the KTX project, which is the peculiarity of large-scale new railway system projects. A brief description on evaluation methodology and overview of the project is followed by detailed evaluations on key differences in risks between conventional railway system and high-speed railway system, social and political risks, engineering and construction risks, and financial risks. Risks involved in system procurement process, such as proposal solicitation, evaluation, selection, and scope of solicitation are separated out and evaluated in depth. Detailed events resulting from these issues are discussed along with their possible impact on system risk. Lessons learned and further possible refinements are also discussed.

Numerical Analysis of Pressure Variation under Train Passage Using the Boundary Element Method.

A train moving at high speed in an open area induces the formation of pressure distribution around itself. This pressure distribution moves with the speeding train, bringing about environmental problems. Furthermore, pressure variation increases in magnitude as train speed increases. It is therefore necessary to predict the increase in magnitude and the characteristic of pressure variation in order to successfully carry out high speed railway projects. Using the boundary element method, we investigated pressure variation brought forth by train passage. Numerical results are compared with measured results from a field test, and qualitative agreement between them is determined. We are in the process of seeking countermeasures to reduce pressure variation during train passage.