High speed rail (HSR) is a relatively new and rapidly expanding transportation mode, one with potentially powerful benefits for local economic development and urban form around the stations. West-European cities have long been shaped by rail transport, but HSR service is creating new dynamics, with new opportunities and challenges. Cities are seeking to maximize the benefits of HSR through coordinated transportation and land use planning, strengthening integrated mobility options that promote smart growth and liveable communities.
At the same time, high speed rail development is a measure for spatial planning and can be used to influence regional and urban development. Thus, to be able to assess benefits it is necessary the comparison of planning data (forecast) to the real existing situation.
From the start, policymakers recognized the enormous potential of HSR to shape urban form and stimulate economic development. Japanese HSR stations were intended to reduce low-density suburban development by concentrating new growth in mid-sized transit-oriented urban centers. France also coordinated high speed rail investment with land-use and economic planning to harness the urban economic growth potential of HSR service.
Moreover, French and Spanish villages, once too far from major cities to have any national consequence in an information age, have seen their fates reverse thanks to high-speed rail systems that have put them far closer than ever before to the centres of politics and finance. The result, apparently, has been a re-population of formerly dying towns with long-distance commuters working in the big city but interested in living at the rural edge.
HSR has had strong positive benefits on the economic vitality of cities, increasing property values, creating jobs, and attracting new private investment. In most cases, national policies and politics have played a large role in determining initial HSR routes and stations.
Existing rail connections with high ridership, such as the Eurostar from the London to Paris, have been obvious choices for HSR conversion. France has sought to use HSR lines and station sites to generate economic transformation in former industrial areas. On the other hand, in Spain, the HSR network was conceived to shorten travel times from all major cities to Madrid to promote national economic integration.
High speed rail has brought benefits to the cities’ vitality, increasing the cost of properties, creating jobs and attracting new private investments. In most cases, national strategies and politics have played a major role in determining high speed rail routes and stations.
by Elena Ilie
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