High-Speed Rail as a New Mode of Intercity Passenger Transportation

23 Pages Posted: 11 Nov 2019

See all articles by Eugene Chao

Eugene Chao

University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School

Vukan R. Vuchic

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Systems Engineering

Aleksandr Vashchukov

Moscow Metro and Ground Transport - Investment Division

Date Written: May 14, 2019

Abstract

High-speed rail is a new mode of intercity passenger transportation. We review the history of high-speed rail development of the United States (US) and compare it with that of peer countries. With the rapid progress of HSR and the successful competition with cars and air travel between medium and long distances (150 and 1,200 km), HSR has an increasing role in intercity travel worldwide. Decision makers, transportation planners, system designers, and operators as well as political leaders need to understand HSR’s operational boundaries for intercity travel to determine which HSR will outperform the others and under which conditions. Our analysis uses a simple time-distance factor to clarify the dominance. To confirm the validity of HSR in intercity passenger rail services, a comparison with the external competition of car and air travel is necessary. Meanwhile, an internal examination of operational performance considering sophisticated variables is imperative. Based on numerous HSR projects, we select four interrelated trade-off elements: the passenger access time and travel time associated with the total on-line travel time, the area coverage associated with the station density, the station density associated with speed, and the transit unit size, frequency, and loading factor associated with the independent line capacity. After examining the interrelations and trade-offs, we present a practical case study of one of the major US economic corridors — the Northeast Corridor. The case study explores the geospatial metadata and concludes that three major system efficiency challenges exist; therefore, it provides corresponding engineering measures to convert an independent dead-end terminal into an integrated through-running station, which are the priority for converting Amtrak, the US national rail service, into an accelerated HSR service. It is time to renew the government’s interest in paying systematic attention to the comprehensive effect of HSR.

Keywords: high-speed rail, regional connectivity, comprehensive effect, system performance, operational measure

JEL Classification: L92, R41, R53

Suggested Citation

Chao, Eugene and Vuchic, Vukan R. and Vashchukov, Aleksandr, High-Speed Rail as a New Mode of Intercity Passenger Transportation (May 14, 2019). ADBI Working Paper 951, May 2019, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3470076 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3470076

Eugene Chao (Contact Author)

University of Pennsylvania - The Wharton School

3641 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6365
United States

Vukan R. Vuchic

University of Pennsylvania - Department of Systems Engineering

School of Engineering & Applied Science
3718 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
United States

Aleksandr Vashchukov

Moscow Metro and Ground Transport - Investment Division

Russia

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