Impacts of High-Speed Rail on Metropolitan Integration: An Examination of London, Madrid and Paris

Abstract

The original goal of high-speed rail (HSR) was to link large metropolitan regions 400-600 km apart. Recently, however, intermediate 'ex-metropolitan' HSR stations have also been created in suburban areas/cities within metropolitan regions (up to 100 km from the metropolitan centre). This study takes a close look at nine such 'ex-metropolitan' stations around Madrid (Guadalajara, Segovia, and Toledo), London (Stratford, Ebbsfleet, and Ashford), and Paris (Charles-de-Gaulle, Marne-la-Vallée -Chessy, and Massy), to understand their territorial and local impacts and draw possible lessons for the California High Speed Rail project.

A methodological approach to analyze the territorial appropriation of high-speed rail from interactions between actions and representations of local actors

“…In accordance with these reflections and in the continuity of studies devoted to the influence of the choices of station location on the territorial integration of HSR (Bertolini, 1998;Loukaitou-Sideris et al, 2012;Mohino et al, 2014), our own previous research on HSR stations (Facchinetti-Mannone and Bavoux, 2010; Facchinetti-Mannone, 2012 and 2016) reveals that the process of territorialization of HSR has encountered a certain territorial inertia due as much to "the effects of place" as to the appropriation modes of the new transport supply by territorial actors. If, as Delaplace pointed out, "appropriation depends on factors such as station location and the strategy implemented by local stakeholders" (Delaplace, 2017), the degree of appropriation of the potentials of HSR has been a major factor in the involvement of local actors in the decision-making process leading to the choice of the location of HSR stations, and in the implementation of coherent and coordinated strategies improving the territorial integration of HSR.…”

“…Many scholars have pointed out the difficulties inherent in discriminating the "effect" of highspeed rail from other factors involved in economic and spatial dynamics (Adolphson and Froidh, 2017;Martinez Sanchez-Mateos and Givoni, 2012;Mohino, Loukaitou-Sideris and Urena, 2014). The territorial impacts of HSR differ from one city to another (Loukaitou-Sideris, et al2013) and vary according to the spatial scale of the analysis (Menerault, Urena and Garmendia, 2009;Garmendia, Ribalaygua, Urena, 2012;Urena, et al 2012), the general economic context, "the physical, economic and locational circumstances and the HSR services characteristics" (Mohino, et al 2014). Because railway stations are both nodes of transport networks and urban places (Bertolini, 1996;Bertolini and Spit, 1998), the economic and spatial effects of high-speed rail stations depend on the interactions between numerous factors.…”

“…Because railway stations are both nodes of transport networks and urban places (Bertolini, 1996;Bertolini and Spit, 1998), the economic and spatial effects of high-speed rail stations depend on the interactions between numerous factors. These factors include: the characteristics of HSR services (frequency, destination and type of services) and national and regional accessibility by train (Bertolini, 2008;Mohino et al, 2014;Willigers, Van Wee, 2011), the efficiency of intermodal connection (Conticelli, 2011;Facchinetti-Mannone, Carrouet, Berion, 2016;Tapiador, Burckhart and Marti-Henneberg, 2009), the location of the HSR station (Adolphson and Froidh, 2017;Givoni, 2006;De Jong, 2009;Facchinetti-Mannone, 2009;Martinez Sanchez-Mateos and Givoni, 2012) and the specificities of served areas. These specificities include the size of the city, its position in the urban hierarchy (Urena, et al 2006 and, "pre-existing economic and land market conditions" (Loukaitou-Sideris, et al 2012), the diversity of economic activities (Bertolini, 1999) as well as supportive urban planning and economic strategies.…”

“…The complex interdependencies between transport, society and territory make it difficult to dissociate the effects of a transport infrastructure from other factors involved in economic and spatial changes (Banister and Lichfield, 1995;Plassard, 2003). Faced with the great diversity of territorial implications of high-speed rail (HSR) and in response to the difficulties in discriminating the specific transport impact from other factors influencing economic and spatial development (Adolphson and Froidh, 2017;Martinez Sanchez-Mateos and Givoni, 2012;Mohino, Loukaitou-Sideris and Urena, 2014), researchers are now focusing more on understanding the process by which territorial changes occur. Instead of inquiring into the "effects" of the new transport supply on spatial organization, it is more instructive to consider the territory as a whole in order to analyze how it has generated the infrastructure, how it has adjusted to the new conditions of accessibility and how economic and social agents and local authorities have appropriated the new transportation system through their behaviours, practices and representations (Chaplain, 1994;Delaplace, 2017;Plassard, 2003).…”

Short- and long-term population and project implications of high-speed rail for served cities: analysis of all served Spanish cities and re-evaluation of Ciudad Real and Puertollano

“…For HSR cities up to 100 km from main metropolises, Garmendia et al (2012a) and Mohino et al (2014) conclude that population growth is faster after the opening of HSR stations. In some cases, this growth is moderate, whereas it is more notable in other cases, with exceptions for the most recent stations.…”