The construction of a HSR network using a ranking methodology to prioritise corridors

The construction of new high-speed rail (HSR) lines, in a climate of financial instability since the onset of the global crisis of 2007–2008, has reopened the debate among the scientific community. Support for the new projects is facing serious concerns over the extremely elevated costs of high-speed and the ability of today's governments to fund or co-fund these systems. This is the main reason the assessment of methodologies to prioritise the construction of new high-speed rail (HSR) corridors has recently become an important issue for transport planners in countries like the U.S. where HSR does not exist.The literature on ranking tools for prioritising HSR corridors is practically non-existent, even in Europe. In 2009, a new ranking methodology was developed and applied to 30,000 city pairs in the U.S. to determine their suitability for high-speed rail investment. As none of these lines has been constructed and none of them are in operation, this methodology has not been validated. The main objective of this paper is to analyse, validate and improve this ranking tool using data from a current HSR network: the Spanish one. Results show the consistency of the model as a preliminary approach to ranking pairs, mainly for the top first O–D relations; however the model fails to discriminate clearly between secondary groups of corridors. These deficiencies are chiefly due to the type of variables used by the model which ultimately, after improved, would provide policymakers with a useful tool when planning the construction of a new HSR network.