The longer the better? Revisiting high-speed rail coverage worldwide

Abstract

While high-speed rail networks involve significant public expenditure in the name of the whole nation, scholars have paid little attention to the share of the population served by this modern transport mode. Studies have favoured perspectives that either neglect population volumes or include them but cannot offer a worldwide assessment. Public authorities favour passionate statements about network length and cruising speed but at the same time they neglect the populations served. In contrast, this paper offers a worldwide comparison of populations served by high-speed rail services in 15 countries. We found the range is wide (7%−94%) and depends on several factors beyond network length, including network design, urbanisation patterns, technical characteristics and domestic vs. international purposes.