High-speed rail in Taiwan: New experience and issues for future development

This study aims to identify some possible issues and challenges for Taiwan's High Speed Rail (HSR) system, which was constructed and is operated under a Build–Operate–Transfer (BOT) model. The operational experiences in the initial stage for equivalent systems in Japan, France, Germany, and elsewhere are introduced herein. This study first presents Taiwan's HSR system development and conducts an ex post cost–benefit analysis of this transportation system. Second, unsatisfied ridership is examined to look for possible solutions to increase it. Third, the paper examines the impact of HSR on the intercity transportation market. Finally, the integration between HSR and various existing transportation modes is discussed. Several policy suggestions are included, which are useful for the decision makers of transportation systems’ entrepreneurs, the central government, and the local authorities to derive a comprehensive post-HSR planning strategy for a more integrated transportation system.     

Measuring the substitution effects between High Speed Rail and air transport in Spain

The main objective of this paper is to estimate the impact that the expansion of the HSR network has had on air transport in Spain by estimating the substitution effect between the two types of transportation. This paper considers the way that the HSR network has grown and how this growth could have affected air transport dynamically. The findings show that a dynamic vision of this substitution rate should be adopted, as opposed to assuming that the rate is constant, as has been the case in previous references. Although the rate varies significantly over the study period, only 13.9% of HSR passenger demand was found to have come from air travel during the 1999–2012 period, meaning that HSR and airlines would seem to offer more independent services than at first it might appear. This confirms the hypothesis as to the HSR’s great ability to generate its own demand. The substitution rate between the two transport modes seems to be closely linked to the way that any new stations are incorporated into the HSR network. Convergence between the seasonality of HSR and air transport has also been examined. The results show that it is difficult to talk of a real HSR transport network in Spain.     

Which is a stronger competitor,High Speed Rail,or Low Cost Carrier,to Full Service Carrier? – Effects of HSR network extension and LCC entry on FSC's airfare in Japan

In Japan, High Speed Rail (HSR) extended its network in 2011 and 2015, and Low Cost Carriers (LCC) entered into the domestic airline market in 2012. We compared the effects of the extension of the HSR network and the entry of LCCs on the airfares of the incumbent Full Service Carriers (FSC). We conducted Difference in Differences analysis with passenger level data to evaluate these market changes, and found that the effects of the HSR extension on FSC's airfares were consistently negative and larger in the short haul markets, while the effects of the entry of LCCs were inconsistent. HSR seems to be a stronger competitor than LCC to FSC and this finding could be affected by capacity, which is large for HSR while small for the LCCs.     

Impact of high-speed rail on market concentration and Lerner index in China's airline market

China has become the second largest air transport market in the world since 2005. Its total length of high-speed rail (HSR) tracks in operation has been greater than that of all other countries combined since 2012. HSR poses a significant challenge to the Chinese airline industry, especially on major airline routes. The impacts of HSR on two market-competition measures, namely, the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index (HHI) and the Lerner index, are examined in this study. In general, the entry of HSR had the effect of reducing market power measured by both the unweighted and weighted Lerner indexes. However, the Lerner index and HHI of the routes with parallel HSR services remained consistently higher than those of the routes without parallel HSR services.     

Competition and cooperation between high-speed rail and air transportation services in Europe

New high-speed rail (HSR) lines may have an enormous influence on the provision of air services. The attention has been devoted to competition between both transportation modes but in some cases HSR services may also have an intermodal complementary role with air transportation. By taking a supply oriented empirical analysis, we study the impact of HSR on air service frequencies and seats offered by airlines in large European countries. We emphasize the distinction between routes with and without a hub airport as an endpoint and we also examine the influence of the location of the HSR station. We generally find direct competition between HSR and airlines, but we also provide some evidence that HSR can provide feeding services to long haul air services in hub airports, particularly in hub airports with HRS stations.     

综合运输体系下客运结构合理配置模型及算法

分析在多种交通方式存在情况下乘客的交通选择行为,并基于随机效用理论和层次分析法构造了综合运输体系下客运结构合理配置模型及算法。考虑到我国现阶段收入水平是影响旅客交通方式选择的主要因素,将旅客划分为4类,并计算分析得到各类旅客的出行选择结果。该模型可用于客运市场份额预测,为优化配置交通运输资源提供理论依据。     

经济学视角的高速铁路盈利能力分析

高速铁路盈利性是其财务可持续性的直接反映,是其投融资模式的直接反映,是我国高速铁路和铁路产业发展形态的直接反映。高速铁路发展模式主要包括股权主导型发展模式、负债主导型发展模式、财政主导型发展模式三种类型。我国高速铁路公益性突出,采用的主要是负债主导型发展模式,在铁路价格受到严格管制,市场化水平有待提升的情况下,亟需构建多渠道长效补贴机制,以克服高速铁路可能产生的营运困难。美国、日本、欧盟等国家和地区的经验教训也证明了构建长效补贴机制、进行铁路产业改革、保持铁路财务可持续性的必要性。     

Does high-speed rail accessibility influence residential property prices? Hedonic estimates from southern Taiwan

A new high-speed railway line (HSR) connects seven metropolitan areas in Taiwan. From Tainan, it is possible to reach Kaohsiung, Chiayi and Taichung in less than one hour, implying an enlarged spatial range of feasible commuting opportunities. The implicit price of HSR accessibility is estimated using hedonic price functions for the residential property market. The results of pre-specified and Box-Cox hedonic price functions are compared. The estimated functions show that HSR accessibility has at most a minor effect on house prices. High ticket prices and entrenched residential location patterns prevent otherwise feasible daily commuting opportunities between Tainan and other cities.     

Impacts of high-speed rail on domestic air transportation in China

This study investigates the impacts of high-speed rail (HSR) on domestic air transportation in China using a new comprehensive modeling framework utilizing both demand and supply perspectives. For the first time the assessment was conducted using an improved panel regression model by taking into account of the detailed opening schedules of various HSR services during the period 2001–2014. The research findings reveal that the deployed HSR services have a significant substitutional effect on domestic air transportation in China, but the effect varies across different HSR routes, travel distance and city type. Specifically, the research found a decrease in domestic passengers of 28.2%, in flights of 24.6% and in seat capacity of 27.9% after the introduction of HSR services. The impacts are found much stronger among those air routes that connect major hub within a distance range of 500 to 800 km. The uneven nature of the impact can be seen in the different experiences of selected cities. For example, air travel declined approximately 45% after commencement of the Wuhan-Guangzhou HSR, whereas it fell by 34% after the opening of the Beijing-Shanghai HSR.     

Spain: highs and lows of 20 years of HSR operation

This paper has been written in response to the Viewpoint contribution by the author Button (2012) entitled: “Is there any economic justification for high-speed railways in the United States?”. In this article, the Spanish HSR high-speed rail network is used as an argument against certain HSR investments. Several of the data presented by the author are misleading and some of the information given in connection with Spain is incomplete. As the Journal of Transport Geography is widely read by policymakers and the scientific community, Button’s misrepresentation could cause serious damage. We therefore set out to clarify the data used by Kenneth Button and to explore some points in greater detail, although in no case eschewing criticism of Spain. Although excessive Spanish investment in public infrastructure over the last twenty years has probably had a negative impact on the real estate bubble, investments in HSR infrastructure in Spain have specifically been accompanied by two particular facts that need to be distinguished from other countries’ experience. These facts cannot be overlooked and will be discussed in this paper. They relate firstly to the total amount of European funds used in HSR construction and secondly to the technological and scientific innovations developed in Spain linked to the HSR market.     

Accessibility impact of the present and future high-speed rail network: A case study of Jiangsu Province,China

The large-scale implementation of a high-speed rail (HSR) network is often considered to have a significant effect on the spatial distribution of accessibility. In China, the development of HSR network has progressed rapidly since the first line commenced operation in 2008. As an important component of this network, Jiangsu province proposed an ambitious HSR construction program which planned to cover over 95% of its counties by 2030. Reduced travel time for passengers is one of the most important effects of HSR, and therefore this study aims to analyze the accessibility impact of the evolving HSR network in Jiangsu province from 2010–2030. A layered cost distance method, based on a door-to-door approach, is proposed to evaluate the present and future accessibility at a more detailed geographical level. The results demonstrate that, with the gradual development of the HSR network, accessibility levels across the province will be improved by about 9.6%, and the distribution of the gains will be uneven since the most significant improvements will occur in the more peripheral areas. The inequality in regional accessibility will decrease by an average of 25.7%, which will produce a more homogeneous accessibility landscape. In addition, several policy measures are suggested in order to further enhance the competitiveness of the HSR network in the transport market at a regional level. This extended period of exploratory and detailed analysis is expected to facilitate proactive public policy decisions related to improving the transport network.     

Railway trip speeds and areal coverage. The emperor’s new clothes of effectivity?

Europe’s railways have experienced a general decline in the second half of the 20th century and a renaissance since the 1980s. Total network length has decreased fundamentally while high-speed rail (HSR) line construction has soared since then. Accordingly HSR has stipulated a lot of research, but only recently HSR’s impacts on settlement structure and transport regimes have been studied in depth. We embrace a passenger’s point of view and utilize a generalized overview model for illustrating the trade-offs between trip speeds of complete trip chains, access/egress legs and mainline trip lengths. In order to estimate input parameters, an overview of railway network and settlement structure of Austria is empirically derived. In four scenarios, we vary these input parameters to study the impact of timetable integration, speed upgrades on mainlines and access/egress modes on trip speed in the Austrian case. Our results show that travel speed advantages of mainline speed increases are quickly countervailed by access/egress improvements or timetable integration improvements. We conclude that finding harmonized optimum speeds, introducing clock-face timetable design and improving access/egress modes are promising strategies in comparison to unscrutinized further maximization of mainline travel speed levels at the expense of feeder/distributor lines quality.     

A multimodal approach to assessing accessibility of a high-speed railway station

In China, accessibility has been profoundly improved by the large-scale construction and operation of high-speed rail (HSR), with far-reaching implications for population flows and socioeconomic development. As a novel attempt to compare the shortest travel times, accessible regions, service populations, and population potential of one- to four-hour isochrones under four scenarios in Tanggu Railway Station (i.e., base scenario, hypothetical scenario 1, hypothetical scenario 2, and actual scenario), this paper analyses three factors' influences on and contributions to accessibility change: the advent of HSR, conventional railway route adjustment, and road network improvement. The results indicate that station accessibility significantly improved from 2007 to 2012. HSR has not only brought a time-space contraction effect to the region from the station to the north-western area but also strengthened interactions among different regions. Due to the reduction of some conventional railway routes, the shortest travel times from the station to the north-eastern areas have slightly increased. Although this factor has some negative effects, it has not affected the ascending trend of enhanced accessibility. Road network improvement is identified as a key factor with balanced impacts on all four-hour isochrones. The results of this study generate supportive information for the planning and construction of HSR stations and networks and provide references for comprehensive transport policymaking.     

Impacts of high speed rail on railroad network accessibility in China

High speed rail (HSR) is changing the overall travel accessibility of cities in China. There have been a number of studies of high speed rail in China. However, detailed spatiotemporal accessibility pattern of cities affected by the operation of high speed rail in China has not been reported. This study takes a timetable-based accessibility evaluation approach to analyze the changes in travel time, travel cost, and distance accessibility for each of the four main stages of HSR development in China: no HSR service in Stage 1 before August 2008, several HSR lines in Stage 2 between August 2008 and July 2011, reduced operating speed of HSR trains in Stage 3 between August 2011 and November 2012, and addition of new HSR lines and reduction of ticket fares in Stage 4 between December 2012 and January 2013. In addition to the “corridor effect” and the “center-diffusion” pattern, this paper investigates the impacts of HSR on changes in in-vehicle travel time and out-of-vehicle travel time with respect to the policy changes that reduced the operating speed of HSR trains, rearranged the train timetable, and lowered the ticket fare on HSR trains. The analysis results indicate the spatiotemporal pattern of Chinese cities affected by these policy changes. This study is useful for assessing HSR impacts on the accessibility of various cities across China as well as serving as a decision-making support to policies related to adjustments of HSR operation and planning of future HSR routes by considering the existing HSR and non-HSR railway lines.     

Impacts of high-speed rail on the inequality of intercity accessibility: A case study of Liaoning Province,China

The rapid development of Chinese high-speed rail (HSR) not only improves the convenience of daily transportation, but also promotes the regional economy of cities along the HSR lines. Accessibility improvement and spatial inequality reduction caused by HSR would play a positive role in transportation development projects appraisal and help achieve the regional coordinated development. Our purpose is to assess how much improvement of economic potential accessibility can each city get from the HSR based on the existing highway and HSR networks, as well as the changes in spatial disparity and accessibility distribution patterns. Taking Liaoning Province as a case, this paper studies the spatial pattern and inequality of accessibility in two intercity transportation scenarios using a gravity-based model. The sensitivity analysis of the parameter and the test of different mass indicators are also conducted. The results show that cities in the central areas have better accessibility than peripheral areas. Cities in the peripheral areas and near the HSR lines tend to benefit more from HSR. The inequality of accessibility decreases a lot in cities with HSR access but only has a minor reduction on a whole scale.     

The impacts of high-speed rail extensions on accessibility and spatial equity changes in South Korea from 2004 to 2018

The construction of South Korean High-Speed Rail (HSR) or Korea Train eXpress (KTX) has been evolving in phases since its first operation in 2004. This development raises concerns whether the benefits from the extended HSR network would again be limited to the initial HSR corridors and will deepen the inequalities in accessibility with the rising issue of uneven regional development of the country. This paper measures the accessibility of each stage of HSR network extension and evaluates its spatial distribution, variation, and changes using weighted averaged travel time and potential accessibility indicators. The results of this study find different accessibility impacts from each stage of HSR extension. Although travel-time reduction and increased attractions have been widened in more cities by each HSR extension, the spatial equity is degenerated by the extension in 2010/2011 as the improvement of accessibility has been concentrated in cities along the primary HSR corridor near the already-advantageous Seoul capital area. In contrast, the future HSR extension in 2018 will enhance equitable accessibility to the isolated regions such as the northeast and the southwest regions of the country. However, the relative degree of accessibility improvement will not be large enough for increasing the spatial equity of accessibility without more extended HSR networks between provinces.     

A study on travelers' transport mode choice behavior using the mixed logit model: A case study of the Seoul-Jeju route

This study is to analyze passengers' choice of the mode of transportation when air transportation is in competition with high speed rail (HSR). The Seoul-Jeju route analyzed as an empirical case study, in which the construction of an undersea tunnel to connect Seoul and Jeju city by HSR has been considered. The study also included two new variables, ‘safety of transportation’ and ‘availability of duty free shopping’ in addition to traditional transport choice variables such as travel time, travel costs and frequency of service to reflect special characteristics of the market. As data gathering tools, SP techniques and mixed logit model, for analytical methodology, were utilized. The authors found that the goodness of fit of the models was improved with new variables. The models also showed that the characteristics of business passengers and leisure passengers in choosing the mode of transportation were different. Business passengers were apt to choose a safety secured mode of transportation regardless of fare while leisure passengers preferred to use duty free shops more than business passengers.     

Impacts on accessibility of China’s present and future HSR network

Although the construction of China’s high-speed rail (HSR) network only started in 2003, the network is already the largest in the world. This paper analyses the impact of the evolving HSR network on the accessibility by HSR and conventional ground transport of 333 prefecture-level cities and 4 municipalities. This paper employs three indicators of accessibility, and analyses three Scenarios. It shows that the HSR network will bring about substantial improvement in accessibility, and lead to national time–space convergence, but will also increase the inequality of nodal accessibility between eastern, central, and western regions, between cities with different sizes of population (excluding the case of the daily accessibility indicator) and between cities that differ in the shortest distance to HSR stations. The HSR network enlarges internal disparities in each of the regions and the five types of cities. The internal inequality of nodal accessibility in all three Scenarios generally increases from the eastern region via the central region to the western region, as well as from very large cities to small cities, varying inversely with the level of economic development and population size. Spatially, accessibility increases generally conform to the distance decay rule but with minor fluctuations. The 50 cities with the largest increases in accessibility are mostly located 50 km or less away from HSR stations and have populations of over 3 million, with the smaller ones located along HSR lines or around large cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. As time progresses, the planned HSR network will result in more balanced development, but regional disparities in accessibility will still be greater than before the construction of the HSR.     

Spatial and temporal heterogeneity of the impact of high-speed railway on urban economy: Empirical study of Chinese cities

The relationship between high-speed railway (HSR) construction and economic development has become a significant concern in recent decades. This study uses the spatiotemporal panel data of China's HSR construction and economic development from 2008 to 2018 as bases to discuss the spatial–temporal heterogeneity of the relationship between HSR and the urban economy. Firstly, this research measures the accessibility of different dimensions (i.e. location accessibility, potential accessibility and daily accessibility), and assesses the regional disparity of HSR accessibility and urban GDP using the Gini index. Secondly, the direct and indirect effects of HSR on economic development are analyzed from the global perspective by using the spatial Durbin model. Lastly, the geographically and temporally weighted regression model is applied to assess the spatial–temporal heterogeneity of the correlation between HSR and economic development from a local perspective. The conclusions are as follows. (1) The construction of HSR might reduce the regional disparity of daily accessibility, but expand the disparity of potential accessibility and location accessibility. (2) From a global perspective, HSR has a significant positive impact on urban economic development, but this impact was mainly produced by the spillover effect and not the direct effect. Specifically, the smaller the spatial–temporal distance between cities, the higher the level of regional integration and the better the economic development of cities. (3) The HSR impact on urban economic growth has a periodic feature. The stimulation of large-scale railway construction will expand the economic effect of HSR, although network improvement will gradually converge the corresponding impact. (4) From a local perspective, the HSR impact on economic development has significant spatial heterogeneity. Although HSR has a certain inhibitory effect on the economic development of Eastern China, it has a positive impact on the economic growth of the western region.     

Location of logistics companies: a stated preference study to disentangle the impact of accessibility

Due to the globalization and the fragmentation of industrial production processes, the logistics sector, organizing the linkages between different production plants and the market, is growing fast. This results in an increasing demand for suitable new business locations. Previous research has indicated that accessibility is a key factor in the location decision making process. Though the literature on this subject is extensive, little research has been done to quantify the impact of the different dimensions of accessibility on the location decision process of logistics companies. This paper aims to fill this void in the literature by means of a revealed preference study (using a Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis) and a stated preference study (using a designed discrete choice experiment) in Flanders (Belgium). The results of the revealed preference study served as input to the design of the choice situations in the stated preference study. In the stated preference study, the respondents were confronted with a series of choice situations described by means of accessibility variables as well as land rent information. An analysis of the resulting data by means of discrete choice modeling revealed that land rent is the most important factor in the location choice of logistics companies in Flanders. Access to a port is the second most important factor, followed by access to a motorway, the location in a business park and an inland navigation terminal, which are all about equally important. Access to a rail terminal plays no significant role in the location choice of logistics companies in Flanders.