Definitions Investment Investment is spending on long-term assets BTS 17 Bureau of Transportation Statistics (agency of the US Department of Transportation; no affiliation with the music group BTS, as of yet). “Investment In Transportation Assets.” Briefing Paper. January 2017. JDN. https://www.bts.gov/browse-statistical-products-and-data/investment-transportation-assets Highways, streets, railroad lines, transit systems, ports, and other transportation fixed assets enable the movement of people and goods. Investment in transportation fixed assets helps build and maintain these critical resources. The pattern of transportation investment has varied over time. Federal, State, and local governments, the private sector, and households all invest in transportation. Investment is defined as spending on assets that take more than a year to consume and include transportation structures, motor vehicles, and other equipment (aircraft, ships and boats, etc.). Investment in transportation structures comprises transportation assets that have a fixed location, such as highways and streets. HSR investment includes funding for infrastructure and rolling stock CHSRA 20 California High-Speed Rail Authority. California High-Speed Rail Early Train Operator Side-by-Side Study. Quantitative Report, February 8, 2020. JDN. https://hsr.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/docs/about/business_plans/2020_Business_Plan_Side_by_Side_Study_Quantitative_Report.pdf Table 1-2 below summarizes the needed investment differentiated by HSR-eligible investment and regional investment. HSR eligible investment is defined as infrastructure and rolling stock cost that can be funded with HSR funding and that represent an early investment to work to towards the Phase 1 HSR system. HSR High-speed rail includes new lines and upgrading old rail lines for higher speeds O’Toole 21 Randal O’Toole (Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute; before working for Cato, his research on environmental issues led to fellowships or visiting professorships at Yale, the University of California, Berkeley, and Utah State University). “The High‐Speed Rail Money Sink: Why the United States Should Not Spend Trillions on Obsolete Technology.” Policy Analysis no. 915, Cato Institute. 20 April 2021. JDN. https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/high-speed-money-sink-why-united-states-should-not-spend-trillions-obsolete The International Union of Railways defines “high‐speed rail” as new rail lines capable of going 250 kilometers per hour (155 mph) or upgraded existing lines capable of going 200 kilometers per hour (125 mph).11 Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, between Boston and Washington, qualifies as “high speed” because it is an upgraded route whose trains can run as fast as 150 mph. Most other Amtrak trains are limited to 79 mph, but the company does have a few routes where trains can run 90–110 mph. A company called Brightline is building a route between West Palm Beach and Orlando that will be capable of running trains at 120 mph. This paper considers trains that go slower than 80 mph conventional and trains that go at least 80 mph but slower than high‐speed trains moderate‐speed.12 High speed rail is 250km/h or faster Nash 15 Chris Nash (Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds, United Kingdom). “When to invest in high speed rail.” Journal of Rail Transport Planning & Management. Volume 5, Issue 1, May 2015, Pages 12-22. JDN. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210970615000037 High speed rail (HSR) is usually regarded as comprising services operating at 250 kmph or more, and these speeds invariably require construction of new purpose built lines, although high speed trains may run at up to 200–225 kmph on upgraded existing lines. According to UIC, by 2013, a total of 21,472 km of new high speed lines had been built worldwide. China had the largest network at 9867 km, whilst Japan, France and Spain all had over 2000 km. There are plans for a further major expansion, with the European Commission calling for a trebling of the kilometres of high speed line in Europe by 2030. Yet high speed rail is an enormous investment, and it is necessary to consider very carefully in what circumstances such an outlay is justified. High speed rail is defined by more than speed Campos and Rus 9 Javier Campos (University of Las Palmas, Spain), Gines De Rus (University of Las Palmas, Spain). “Some stylized facts about high-speed rail: A review of HSR experiences around the world.” Transport Policy, 16 (2009), pp. 19-28. JDN. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X09000109/pdfft For many years, it has been customary in the rail industry to consider ‘high speed’ just as a technical concept related to the maximum speed that could be reached by trains running on particular track segments. In fact, the European Council Directive 96/48 specifically established that high-speed infrastructure comprised three different types of lines5: - specially built high-speed lines equipped for speeds generally equal to or greater than 250 km/h, - specially upgraded conventional lines, equipped for speeds of the order of 200 km/h, and - specially upgraded conventional lines, which have special features as a result of topographical, relief or town-planning constraints, on which the speed must be adapted to each case. In theory, these technical definitions are broad enough to encompass the entire rail infrastructure capable of providing high-speed services. In practice, however, speed has not always been the best indicator, since commercial speed in many services is often limited due to, for example, proximity to densely urbanized areas (to ease the impact of noise and minimize the risk of accidents), or the existence of viaducts or tunnels (where speed must be reduced to 160–180 km/h for safety reasons).6 Although HSR shares the same basic engineering principles with conventional railways – both are based on the fact that rails provide a very smooth and hard surface on which the wheels of the trains may roll with minimum friction and energy consumption – they also have technical differences. For example, from an operational point of view, their signaling systems are completely different: whereas traffic on conventional tracks is still controlled by external (electronic) signals together with automated signaling systems, the communication between a running HSR train and the different blocks of tracks is usually fully in-cab integrated, which removes the need for drivers to see lineside signals. Similarly, the electrification differs, since most new high-speed lines require at least 25,000 V to achieve enough power, whereas conventional lines may operate at lower voltages. Additional technical dissimilarities exist regarding the characteristics of the rolling stock and the exploitation of services.7 There are four models for high speed rail Campos and Rus 9 Javier Campos (University of Las Palmas, Spain), Gines De Rus (University of Las Palmas, Spain). “Some stylized facts about high-speed rail: A review of HSR experiences around the world.” Transport Policy, 16 (2009), pp. 19-28. JDN. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0967070X09000109/pdfft All these differences suggest that – more than speed – it is the relationship of HSR with existing conventional services and the way in which the use of infrastructure is organized that play a more relevant role in the economic definition of high-speed services. As summarized in Fig. 1, four different exploitation models can be identified: 1. The exclusive exploitation model is characterized by a complete separation between high-speed and conventional services, each one with its own infrastructure. This is the model adopted by the Japanese Shinkansen since 1964, mostly due to the fact that the existing conventional lines (built in narrow gauge, 1.067m) had reached their capacity limits and it was decided that the new high-speed lines would be designed and built in standard gauge (1.435 m). One of the major advantages of this model is that the market organization of both HSR and conventional services is fully independent, something that later proved to be a valuable asset when the public operator (Japan National Railways, JNR) went bankrupt and integrated rail services and infrastructures had to be privatized.8 2. In the mixed high-speed model, high-speed trains run either on specifically built new lines, or on upgraded segments of conventional lines. This corresponds to the French model, whose TGV (Train a` Grande Vitesse) has been operating since 1981, mostly on new tracks, but also on re-electrified tracks of conventional lines in areas where the duplication was impractical. This reduces building costs, which is one of the main advantages of this model. 3. The mixed conventional model, where some conventional trains run on high-speed lines, has been adopted by Spain’s Alta Velocidad Española (AVE). As in Japan, most of the Spanish conventional network was built in narrow gauge, whereas the rest of the European network used the standard gauge. To facilitate the interoperability of international services, a specific adaptive technology for rolling stock was developed in 1942 – i.e., the TALGO trains – which is also capable of using at a higher than normal speed the specific HSR infrastructure (built in standard gauge).9 The main advantage of this model is the saving of rolling stock acquisition and maintenance costs and the flexibility for providing ‘intermediate high-speed services’ on certain routes. 4. Finally, the fully mixed model allows for the maximum flexibility, since this is the case where both high-speed and conventional services can run (at their corresponding speeds) on each type of infrastructure. This is the case of German intercity trains (ICE) and the Rome–Florence line in Italy, where high-speed trains occasionally use upgraded conventional lines, and freight services use the spare capacity of highspeed lines during the night. The price for this wider use of the infrastructure is a significant increase in maintenance costs.
