High-speed rail
This page is about high speed rail in general. You may have been redirected here looking for the British High Speed Train.High-speed rail is public transport by rail with a possible speed above 200 km/h (125 miles per hour).
Typically high speed trains travel at top service speeds of between 250 km/h (150 mph) to 300 km/h (180 mph). Although the world speed record for a wheeled train was set in 1990 by a French TGV which reached a speed of 515 km/h (320 mph), the experimental Japanese magnetic levitation train has reached 581 km/h.
The International Union of Railways' high speed task force provides definitions of high speed rail travel [1], but note that there is no one single definition of the term, but rather a combination of elements - new or upgraded track, rolling stock, operating practices - that lead to high speed rail operations.
Railways were the first form of mass transportation, and until the invention of the motorcar in the early 20th century, had an effective monopoly on land transport. In the decades after World War II, improvements in automobiles, highways, and aircraft made those means practical for a greater portion of the population than previously. In Europe and Japan emphasis was given to rebuilding the railways after the war. In the United States, emphasis was given to building a huge national highway system (at great expense and with public funds) and airports. Urban mass transport systems in the USA were largely neglected.
High-speed rail was conceived as an attempt to win back railway passengers who had been lost to other means of travel; in most cases it has been quite successful to this end.
There are constraints on the growth of the highway and air travel systems, widely cited as traffic congestion, or capacity limits. Airports have limited capacity to serve passengers during peak travel times, as do highways. High speed rail, which has potentially very high capacity on its fixed corridors, offers the promise of relieving congestion on the other systems.
Prior to World War II conventional passenger rail was the principal means of intercity transport. Passenger rail service has been seriously downgraded since, due to the small proportion of journeys made by rail.
High-speed rail has the advantage over automobiles in that it can travel at speeds far faster than those possible by automobile, and avoid congestion. For relatively short distances, of less than around 650 km (400 miles), high-speed train travel has an advantage over air travel, in that it does not require long check in delays, which eliminates the speed advantage of air travel for short-haul flights. Train travel also permits far greater capacity and frequency of service than is possible with air travel.
For most journeys that don't connect city centre to city centre, the door to door travel time and the total cost of high speed rail is comparable to that of driving, a fact often mentioned by critics of HST. Supporters argue however that journeys by HST are less strenuous and more productive than car journeys.
The early target areas identified by the French, the Japanese, and the Americans are connections between pairs of large nearby cities. In France this was Paris-Lyon, in Japan Tokyo-Osaka, and in the USA the proposals are in high density areas, with the only high speed rail service in the Northeast Corridor between Boston - New York - Washington, D.C This was accomplished with minimal expense as the existing railroad infrastructure, built in the 1930s, was then the most advanced in the world.
Market segmentation has principally focused on the business travel market. The French focus on business travelers is reflected in the nature of their rail cars (including the all-important bar-car). Pleasure travel is a secondary market, though many of the French extensions connect with vacation beaches on the Atlantic and Mediterranean, as well as all major amusement parks. In fact, Friday evenings are the peak time for TGV (Metzler, 1992). The system has lowered prices on long distance travel to compete more effectively with air services, and as a result some cities within an hour of Paris by TGV have become commuter communities, thus increasing the market while restructuring land use. A side effect of the first high-speed rail lines in France was the opening up of previously isolated rural regions to fast development. Some later high-speed lines where planned primarily for this purpose, such as the Madrid-Sevilla line and the proposed Amsterdam-Gronigen line.
Five years after construction began on the line, the first Japanese high speed rail line opened on the eve of the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, connecting the capital with Osaka. This Olympic target date clearly reflects mercantilist interests in the promotion of modern Japan to the world. The French high-speed rail, the TGV, was opened in 1981 by SNCF, the French rail agency, also after many years of planning, beginning in 1966 and construction beginning in 1976. The opening ceremonies were a significant event, being reported internationally, but not associated with a major showpiece such as a World's fair or Olympic Games.
Later the TGV network was also extended with lines down to Bordeaux, and faster running trains. Rather than have separate lines from Paris, towns in Britanny are reached via a relatively short detour - it being argued that the trains run fast enough that the extra distance causes little real delay on the long distance travel between Paris and Bordeaux, and this routing allows additional service to Brittany.
The German ICE train was deployed well after the TGV network was established, and has comparable speeds.
The Eurostar trains which run through the Eurotunnel between the United Kingdom and France and Belgium are modified versions of the TGV trains, which are capable of running on different power systems and also with seven different signalling modes. Eurostar trains have bogies between carriages, and typical operating units have 18 carriages, so there is the possibility of significant passenger capacity between London and other European cities. A fully loaded train of 794 passengers is equivalent to several large aircraft.
The Alta Velocidad Española AVE high speed rail system in Spain is currently being constructued. High speed trains have been running on the Madrid-Sevilla route since 1992. Should the aims of the ambitious AVE construction program be met, by 2010, Spain will have 7000 km of high speed trains linking all provincial cities to Madrid in under 4 hours and all cities within 6 hours of Barcelona.
By 2007, the fastest commercial trains in operation will be moving passengers between Barcelona and Madrid at a top speed of 350 km/h (traveling the 600km between the two cities in only 2.5 hours). Three corporations have or will build trains for the Spanish high speed rail network: Spanish Talgo, French Alstom, and German Siemens.
The major passenger carrier in the United States, Amtrak, has been operating Acela trains between Boston and Washington since 2001. These trains tilt, because of curves along the track, and the top speed is 150 mph (240 km/h). This maximum speed might not be considered fast enough for this train to be designated a high speed train, though the average speeds suggest that it should be. The average speed from Washington to Boston is about 82 mph (132 km/h): 5 h 30 min for 450 miles (724 km).
Depending on how it is defined, high-speed rail in the United States today remains in an early, conceptual stage. The United States efforts have been multi-pronged. Various states have promoted study and design of high speed rail lines, and six corridors have been designated by US DOT for study:
In terms of its top-down planning, the development of high-speed rail in the United States borrows conceptually from the interstate highway system. Typically modes emerge without either significant or central planning at the outset. Examples include air travel, highways, and rail. Later, central planning is tacked on, as when the government established specific trans-continental routes, or began funding airports or the interstate highways. In all likelihood this probably confirms high speed rail's role as a successor to conventional rail rather than holding status as a new mode on its own.
Operationally, the systems are largely adapted from conventional rail systems, with similar labor organization and ownership in Japan and France and similar architectures in many other respects.
In 1967, after the Tokaido Shinkansen was deployed, a second line, the Sanyo Shinkansen was begun. The inter-relationship between land development and the high speed rail network was recognized, leading, in 1970, to the enaction in Japan of a law for the construction of a nationwide Shinkansen railway network in order to expand the network. By 1973, the Transport Minister approved construction plans for five additional lines and basic plans for twelve others. Despite the approval, financial consideration intervened; the cost of the five lines (five trillion yen, or fifty billion dollars at 100 yen to the dollar, a somewhat hopeful exchange rate), combined with the oil shock and recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s resulted in their delay until 1989. Ironically, high oil prices, which should increase the relative demand for non-oil based transportation such as high speed rail, delayed their construction.
The new Japanese lines are also not "Full Shinkansen", with all of the characteristics of high speed rail. Rather they are mixed, and thus less expensive technology, combining narrow gauge and wider gauge lines on the same structures. New structures allow for eventual upgrade, but existing narrow-gauge structures are kept in places, allowing the bullet train to use them, but not at the higher speeds. As with its inauguration, the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano Japan were a target for the opening of a rail line extension: Hokuriku Shinkansen (Tokyo to Nagano) got open under this scheme just in time.
Within Japan, some of the most significant changes in the mode's growth phase has been the break-up and privatization of the rail system, begun in 1987. The hope is that restructuring leads to more efficient and profitable methods in the passenger rail sector. Incremental improvements to the high speed rail technology are continuously being undertaken, and the network continues to be expanded. As an example of improvements, the travel time from Tokyo to Shin Osaka (the first route opened), has decreased from 4 hours in 1964, to 2 hours and 30 minutes.
There is now a high speed train line in Korea, and China has plans for high speed trains based on TGV technology.
Using the definitions outlined Australia has no high speed trains. However, it does now have a fast service using a tilting train which operates between Brisbane and Rockhampton.
In France, the cost of construction is minimized by adopting steeper grades rather than building tunnels and viaducts. Because the lines are dedicated to passengers, grades of 3.5%, rather than the previous maximum of 1-1.5% for mixed traffic, are used. Possibly more expensive land is acquired in order to build straighter lines which minimize line construction as well as operating and maintenance costs. In other countries high speed rail was built without those economies so that the railway can also support other traffic, such as freight.
Definitions
History
High-speed trains vs. automobiles or airplanes
Target areas for high-speed train
High-speed trains in Europe
The earliest high speed train deployed in Europe was the French TGV, which originally ran on the specially constructed line between Lyon and Paris.
The TGV network gradually spread out to other cities, and even went into other countries - such as Switzerland. Trains that cross national boundaries may need to have special characteristics, such as multiple power supplies. This means that not all TGVs are the same, and there are interoperability considerations."High-speed" trains in the U.S.
In some ways, high-speed efforts around the world can be traced to the streamliners that cris-crossed the United States in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s. However, several factors contributed to the stagnation of rail transportation in the country just as Europe and Japan were pushing forward. There has been a resurgence of interest in recent decades, with many plans being examined for high-speed rail across the country. However, current service remains relatively limited.
The Clinton Administration proposed a High Speed Rail Development Act (1993) to study the issues involved and provide seed money. Money was set aside in ISTEA (1991) for mag-lev development, and proposals for deployment have been made in Orlando, Florida and Texas, but there is still no operating maglev in revenue earning passenger service in the United States. Amtrak's northeast corridor has been electrified and seen elimination of grade crossings.
(See also Midwest Regional Rail Initiative)
High-speed trains in Japan
High-speed trains in other parts of Asia
High-speed trains in Australia
Technology
Much of the technology behind high-speed rail is an improved application of existing technology. By building a new rail infrastructure with 20th century engineering, including elimination of constrictions such as roadway at-grade crossings, frequent stops, a succession of curves and reverse curves, and not sharing the right-of-way with freight or slower passenger trains, higher speeds (250 - 300 km/h) are maintained. A record speed of 515 km/h has been run using TGV technology. Thus it's conventional and compatible with existing systems. The French TGV trains typically run over older track at standard speeds combined with segments on new tracks, to provide an overall high speed, one seat journey to many destinations.Existing high-speed rail systems
TGV family
ICE family
Shinkansen family
Talgo family
Tilting trains
Magnetic levitation
Other