Impact of High-Speed Rail on the Operational Capacity of Conventional Rail in China

The development of new technologies has significantly influenced railways modernization and has caused the appearance of high-speed rail which represent a safe, comfortable and ecologically sustainable way of transportation. The high-speed rail present a big step in a relation to conventional railways, where the biggest difference is speed which even entails a change of other organizational and operational parameters, better utilization of trains, higher performance of manpower and better service to users. That is visible in many cities around the world where high-speed trains are used by billions of users. In the EU there is no unique high-speed railway network, besides that in many EU member countries various operational models are applied. The future of the high-speed railways market depends on political, economical and technical factors and challenges as high infrastructure costs, various rates of return on investment and the negative effects of economic crises. The main objective of the paper is to analyze infrastucture costs of high-speed rail in Europe and benefits such us time savings, higher reliability, comfort, safety, reducing pollution and the release of capacity in the conventional rail network, roads and airport infrastructure.

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Efficiency and Spatial Equity Impacts of High-Speed Rail on the Central Plains Economic Region of China

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11092583 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (9) ◽

pp. 2583

Author(s):

Xiaomin Wang ◽

Wenxin Zhang

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

High Speed ◽

Weighted Average ◽

Regional Disparities ◽

Economic Region ◽

Central Plains ◽

High Speed Rail ◽

Spatial Equity ◽

Conventional Rail ◽

The Impact

Efficiency impacts can be assessed based on improvements in accessibility promoted by the high-speed rail (HSR) project, focusing mainly on major urban areas. Spatial equity impacts originate from changes in the distribution of accessibility levels observed across such cities. This study uses the weighted average travel time and coefficient of variation to explore the impact of HSR on efficiency and spatial equity within the Central Plains Economic Region (CPER) and to build an “efficiency-equity” model to identify optimal upgrading of conventional rail (CR) lines to improve the accessibility of the CPER and mitigate regional disparities. The results indicate that since the operation of HSR, accessibility levels across the CPER have improved by roughly 24.56%, and the spatial distribution of gains has been uneven since the most significant improvements have occurred in HSR cities and large cities. Inequality in regional accessibility has increased by 28.12%, creating a more heterogeneous pattern of accessibility. With goals of “efficiency” and “equity”, an examination of the upgrading of CR as an approach shows that “Xinxiang-Jiaozuo” and “Xinxiang-Jiaozuo-Sanmenxia-Yuncheng” are the best upgraded lines for improving the efficiency of the CPER and limiting regional disparities. The results of this study serve as supportive information for the planning and construction of HSR lines and networks and for underdeveloped regional transport system policymaking.

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Bimodal Use of High-Speed Rail Lines

Transportation Research Record Journal of the Transportation Research Board ◽

10.1177/0361198105191600101 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 1916 (1) ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Begoña Guirao ◽

José Manía Menéndez ◽

Ana Rivas

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

High Speed Rail ◽

Maximum Benefit ◽

The Future ◽

Rail Line ◽

High Investment ◽

Potential Demand ◽

Railway Engineering ◽

Conventional Rail ◽

National Governments

Over the past decades, bimodal operation of conventional rail lines-the use of a rail line to carry both passengers and goods-has been studied and put into practice in railway engineering and planning efforts. However, the growing construction of high-speed rail lines in Europe has sparked serious controversy about the possibility of introducing bimodal services on this type of track. This controversy encompasses not only technical issue but also acceptability and economic issues. So far, little has been published about it. Bimodal use of high-speed rail lines is now practically nonexistent in Europe, and national governments do not have the necessary information on the feasibility of the system. The first Spanish high-speed railway started to run in April 1992 between Madrid and Seville and, until now, has been used to transport only passengers. The future Spanish high-speed network will be centered in Madrid and will cover more than 2,000 km over the next 15 years. Its operation with bimodal criteria is starting to be discussed as a way to reap maximum benefit from the high investment costs. This paper presents and analyzes the results of the first study on the acceptability of and the potential demand for bimodal use of a Spanish high-speed rail line. The term “acceptability” is used to describe the prospective judgment of measures to be introduced in the future. The target group for the study was a sample of users of the corridor of this high-speed rail line. As part of the study, more than 3,000 valid questionnaires were collected, and more than 50 companies interviewed.

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A Panel Investigation of High-Speed Rail (HSR) and Urban Transport on China’s Carbon Footprint

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11072011 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 2011 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Hongchang Li ◽

Jack Strauss ◽

Lihong Liu

Keyword(s):

Carbon Emissions ◽

High Speed ◽

Unintended Consequences ◽

Data Availability ◽

High Speed Rail ◽

Rapid Urbanization ◽

Chinese Cities ◽

Transportation Modes ◽

Conventional Rail ◽

The Impact

Rapid urbanization and industrialization in Chinese cities have substantially elevated carbon emissions, and transportation plays a major role in these emissions. Due to data availability, research on the impact of both high-speed rail (HSR) and other urban transportation modes on urban carbon emissions is rare. Using a relatively large panel of 194 Chinese cities from 2008–2013, we examine the impact of HSR, conventional rail, bus, roads, and subways on urban carbon emissions. We further document the interaction of these transport modes with geo-economic variables, and more accurately measure HSR’s impact on emissions using a comprehensive accessibility metric. During this time, China developed, constructed and began to operate an extensive HSR network. Our results show that increases in HSR lead to rises in carbon emissions, emissions per GDP unit and per capita. We also find that transportation’s impact on carbon emissions differs by city size and region, and transportation modes significantly interact with GDP, population and urban area to affect carbon emissions. These interactions imply that the government’s promotion of HSR over conventional rail may have unintended consequences and boost urban carbon emissions.

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NEKI TEHNIČKO-EKONOMSKI ASPEKTI PRUGA ZA VELIKE BRZINE / SOME TECHNICAL-ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF HIGH RAILWAY SPEED

EMC Review - Časopis za ekonomiju - APEIRON ◽

10.7251/emc16109d ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Branko Davidović ◽

Milivoje Vuković

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Significant Proportion ◽

First Year ◽

Pricing Policy ◽

High Speed Rail ◽

Rail Network ◽

The Social ◽

Potential Benefits ◽

Conventional Rail ◽

Project Life

Many countries investment and building high speed rail (HSR) infrastructure becouse produces social benefits and costs. The potential benefits are basically time savings, higher reliability, comfort, safety and the release of capacity in the conventional rail network, enviromental roads and airport infrastructure. The costs are high, and sunk in a significant proportion; therefore, the social profitability of the project requires that HSR users’ and other beneficiaries’ willingness to pay is high enough to compensate the sunk and variable costs of maintaining and operating the line plus any other external cost during construction and project life. Problem for our country, is number of passengers to justify a new high speed line. It is very variable, ranging from 3 millions to 17 millions in the first year of operation under possible assumptions examined, but typically even under favourable conditions at least 9 millions passengers per annum will be needed. The economic evaluation of long-lived infrastructure requires a careful construction of the contrafactual and there are many assumptions that might seriously bias the results. This is the case of transport pricing during the lifespan of the project. Pricing policy needs to be explicitly treated.

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Rail Accessibility in Germany: Changing Regional Disparities between 1990 and 2020

Raumforschung und Raumordnung ◽

10.14512/rur.63 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 79 (2) ◽

pp. 95-115

Author(s):

Fabian Wenner ◽

Alain Thierstein

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Regional Level ◽

German Reunification ◽

Passenger Transport ◽

High Speed Rail ◽

Location Factor ◽

City Regions ◽

Peripheral Areas ◽

Conventional Rail

Transport accessibility is an important location factor for households and firms. In the last few decades, technological and social developments have contributed to a reinvigorated role of passenger transport. However, rail accessibility is unevenly distributed in space. The introduction of high-speed rail has furthermore promoted a polarisation of accessibility between metropolises and peripheral areas in some European countries. In this article we analyse the development of rail accessibility at the regional level in Germany between 1990 and 2020 for 266 functional city-regions. Our results show two different facets: The number of regions that are directly connected to one another has decreased, but at the same time the spatial disparities of accessibility have decreased, albeit to a small extent. This development was strongest in East Germany after German reunification and thus largely a consequence of the renovation of the conventional rail infrastructure, not high-speed rail. Nevertheless, it can be concluded that the introduction of high-speed traffic in Germany did not lead to an increase in accessibility disparities. Instead, the accessibility effects of high-speed rail in Germany seem to break the traditional dichotomy between core and periphery.

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Designed a Passive Grinding Test Machine to Simulate Passive Grinding Process

Processes ◽

10.3390/pr9081317 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. 1317

Author(s):

Peng-Zhan Liu ◽

Wen-Jun Zou ◽

Jin Peng ◽

Xu-Dong Song ◽

Fu-Ren Xiao

Keyword(s):

High Speed ◽

Testing Machine ◽

Grinding Wheel ◽

Grinding Process ◽

Test Machine ◽

High Speed Rail ◽

Grinding Machines ◽

Conventional Rail ◽

And Function ◽

Grinding System

Passive grinding is a high-speed rail grinding maintenance strategy, which is completely different from the conventional rail active grinding system. In contrast to active grinding, there is no power to drive the grinding wheel to rotate actively in passive grinding. The passive grinding process is realized only by the cooperation of grinding pressure, relative motion, and deflection angle. Grinding tests for passive grinding can help to improve the passive grinding process specifications and be used for the development of passive grinding wheels. However, most of the known grinding methods are active grinding, while the passive grinding machines and processes are rarely studied. Therefore, a passive grinding test machine was designed to simulate passive grinding in this study. This paper gives a detailed description and explanation of the structure and function of the passive grinding tester. Moreover, the characteristics of the grinding process and parameter settings of the testing machine were discussed based on the passive grinding principle. The design of a passive grinding test machine provides experimental equipment support for investigating passive grinding behavior and grinding process.

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