THE EUROPEAN HIGH-SPEED TRAIN NETWORK -- PREDICTED EFFECTS ON ACCESSIBILITY PATTERNS

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1996

Subject Area

land use - impacts, mode - rail, place - europe, planning - signage/information, ridership - commuting, technology - geographic information systems

Keywords

Speed, Railways, Railroads, Impacts, Europeaccessibility, Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Abstract

The principal aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the future European high-speed train network on accessibility, by reducing time distance between places and modifying their relative location. We compare the current situation with that foreseen for the year 2010, according to the Outline Plan of the European High-Speed Train Network, in order to analyse which areas will most benefit from construction and improvement of the infrastructure. It is hypothesized that the high-speed train will certainly bring the peripheral regions closer to the central ones, but will also increase imbalances between the main cities and their hinterlands. A weighted average distance indicator is applied for this purpose. This measure identifies the spatial distribution of accessibility in the area of study, emphasizing the infrastructure effects, and locates accessibility changes at the European level. A Geographic Information System (GIS) has been used to carry out this study.

Comments

Journal of Transport Geography home Page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09666923

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