Abstract
The Economics and Politics of High-speed Rail, by Albalate and Bel, provides a comprehensive overview of the high-speed rail (HSR) landscape available at the international level. It currently stands as the most comprehensive and in-depth analysis of HSR systems around the world, following the path of Campus and de Rus’s paper from 2009 (published in Transport Policy). Despite some limitations described below, the book is a good source of information for all readers interested in the development of HSR projects. Its low level of technical jargon and the focus on non-technological details make it well suited also for policy makers and nontechnical readers. It is a useful addition to a personal and professional library and will remain a reference in the field for several years to come.
The book is of potential interest to readers that are looking for an economic discussion of HSR features and impacts and is a good source of information on the comparison of economic figures, political environments, estimates of passenger demand, and environmental and social effects associated with the development of HSR infrastructures and services. The authors systematically analyze the development of HSR services in Japan, France, Germany, Spain, and China, and—to a lesser extent—Italy, Korea, and Taiwan.
Albalate and Bel explore several related topics, for example, expected versus current passenger demand, infrastructure versus operating costs, impact on economic system, and environmental effects for each HSR system. This type of review on HSR projects is still rather rare, and it is useful for anybody who has interest in this field and is looking for an independent, unbiased, economic-based review of the HSR projects to date. Most information available on HSR, so far, is still based on the analysis of single case studies at an individual project level or at best at the national scale. In addition, plenty of additional information, including issues associated with policy making and the political debate behind projects that have been already built, are under construction, or are still in a planning phase, is often available from nonscientific and often biased sources. These publications and data may be affected by optimism bias, as in the case of studies promoted by the stakeholders involved in the development of HSR projects, and other HSR supporters, or fierce criticism against it, as in the case of the movements that offer resistance to the development of these projects. This further reinforces the value of the systematic overview of HSR experiences at the international level in Albalate and Bel’s book, which outlines many of the potential benefits and/or negative effects of HSR projects, on a case-by-case basis, in a rigorous way and through a solid economic analysis.
The book presents some limitations and minor weaknesses though. First, the content of several portions of the text appears at times redundant, as if the authors felt the need to repeat some concepts in order to reinforce some major points in their review. The total length of the book could have been slightly reduced without a loss of major information and increasing the readability and clarity in the presentation of the content. In addition, this first edition of the book contains a few minor grammar mistakes, as well as some unusual syntax, probably due to the foreign nationality of the authors, for whom English is not their first language. Some improvements in the word choice and other language details would have benefited the book.
The main approach chosen for the discussion of the content of the book reflects the economic background of the two authors. They review HSR projects by country and provide a detailed assessment of the political objectives for which HSR lines are built, the expected passenger demand (and the observed demand for the lines already in operation), the related costs for the construction and operation of the lines, and the environmental and social externalities of HSR infrastructures and services. This detailed analysis is applied to all HSR projects in each country included in the review. However, by focusing on the costs and demand figures associated only with the newly built HSR lines, this approach has some limitations. As Campus and de Rus (2009) highlighted, many HSR lines are often operated through a mixed-operational model that implies running HSR services on a mix of newly built and upgraded conventional tracks. The case of Italy is emblematic: the authors discuss the development of the Italian HSR services focusing on the construction and operation of the HSR lines between Milan and Bologna and between Rome and Naples. They ignore the intermediate Florence–Rome route with the justification that it is not a properly defined HSR line, in the definition currently adopted for those lines, as this fast conventional line built over twenty years ago has a maximum speed of only 155 mph. However, the HSR routes between Milan and Bologna and between Rome and Naples are only portions of the longer Milan–Rome–Naples HSR corridor, which also includes the upgraded historical line between Florence and Rome, now fully integrated into the HSR network, and the recently built Bologna–Florence segment, which entered into operation more recently. Measuring the demand and costs of HSR services only for the Milan–Bologna, Bologna–Florence, and Rome–Naples portions of this route (instead of the entire HSR corridor from Milan to Rome/Naples) causes a large underestimation of the overall impact of HSR on transportation in this country. Recent data show that the highest volume of passengers on the Italian HSR network is observed between Milan and Rome on the route that passes through Bologna and Florence, operated using the mix of HSR and upgraded fast conventional lines. On this route, HSR services, which connect the two major cities of the country with travel time of less than three hours, have absorbed a large portion of travel demand while drastically reducing the mode share for cars and air transportation on the same corridor. As a consequence, the airline industry has dramatically cut seat capacity and some airlines have entirely ceased service on this route. On the contrary, focusing the analysis of the Italian case only on the shorter dedicated HSR-track routes, that is, Milan–Turin, Milan–Bologna, Bologna–Florence, and Rome–Naples/Salerno, the authors concluded that the effect of HSR on air transportation in Italy was not significant. In addition, still for the Italian context, the book does not mention the presence of two separate operators, which since 2011 have been offering HSR services on the same routes, as an effect of the separation of the infrastructure from the rail service developed according to the European Union recommendations for railway operations. The increased competition between the two service providers has contributed to lowering HSR fares and to increasing quality and attracting demand to HSR services.
A few additional minor flaws affect the book. For example, the city of Salerno, that is, the southernmost end of the Italian HSR network, is mistakenly confused throughout the entire book with the tourist destination of Sorrento (which is currently not served by rail services). Similar minor issues might be present in other sections of the book. These limitations could have been avoided, and the book would have benefited, if the authors had more heavily consulted with local experts in the HSR sector in each country included in the analysis.
Finally, and probably more substantially, an important topic related to HSR development is not well discussed in this book. Albalate and Bel make use of rigorous quantitative comparisons to evaluate the economic performance of each HSR experience. However, a more extended discussion of the strategic role of HSR in shaping the development of transportation and land use of cities and regions, in particular in the longer term, is missing. This topic is still highly controversial, as it has been used by HSR supporters to promote projects also when demand estimates are low, in the name of future economic development. Further, it is difficult to evaluate these impacts of HSR systems, as HSR services started operations only few decades ago, and enough data to support conclusions in this field are not yet available. Still, the literature suggests that large infrastructure projects, such as the development of massive HSR networks, or the roadway and freeway systems in past decades, have the potential to contribute to reshaping the organization of entire cities and regions. The large investments in freeways and car-oriented development in the United States and other countries in the last sixty years have considerably contributed to reshaping mobility and lifestyles in these societies, probably forever. They changed the way people live, think, work, and interact, similarly to what railways and public transportation systems did in older cities in previous decades. It is still unclear how HSR systems, especially in coordination with other public transportation infrastructures and services, will affect future mobility and the development of cities and regions. This is an important topic for future research, but it has not been discussed enough in this book. Similarly, the authors argue that construction costs and life-cycle effects for the entire HSR projects should be considered in order to get a proper evaluation of these systems. However, they do not mention the large impacts associated with the construction costs and life-cycle effects of alternative projects (e.g., road infrastructures or airports) that are not required anymore if HSR receives priority in national transportation agendas. Certainly, the development of HSR networks has the potential to reduce the need for alternative facilities. The Italian case study, again, provides an interesting example: a nationally acclaimed bypass project for the congested freeway connecting Florence and Bologna was approved several years ago, with large infrastructural costs and environmental effects associated with the solutions needed for this route. However, the previous forecasts for passenger demand on this bypass freeway have later appeared to be largely overestimated, after taking into account the effects of the parallel HSR route that entered service on this corridor. The new railway infrastructure diverted an important part of the travel demand on this corridor, reducing the justification for this road project. Similar types of impacts, and the associated opportunity costs, are not analyzed in the book.