Towards sustainability in the high-speed railway industry: modeling of cases from China
Purpose – This paper aims to document and to illustrate highly usable research: a practical framework for realizing the sustainable operations of the high investment, technology-intensive high-speed railways in China. Also, for the first time, we draw a broad, metaphorical relationship between railways within a country to Chinese meridian lines within a human body. These are similar in enabling flows across the country and human body. Design/methodology/approach – Employing Chinese case studies, we attempt to apply methodological procedures involving operational, financial and developmental in realizing the sustainability of high-speed railways. Critical criteria are emphasized for efficiency, financial viability and long-term funding sustained development of high-speed railways in the Chinese context. Policymakers may utilize the illustrative framework in working toward specific recommendations that may be implementable. Findings – Three critical aspects to sustainability are operational, financial solve...
A review of HSR experiences around the world
High Speed Railways (HSR) is currently regarded as one of the most significant technological breakthroughs in passenger transportation developed in the second half of the 20th century. At the beginning of 2008 there were about 10,000 kilometres of new high speed lines in operation around the world and, in total (including upgraded conventional tracks), more than 20,000 kilometres of the worldwide rail network was devoted to provide high speed services to passengers willing to pay for a lower travel time and a quality improvement in rail transport. However, building, maintaining and operating HSR lines is expensive, involves a significant amount of sunk costs and may substantially compromise both the transport policy of a country and the development of its transport sector for decades. For these reasons it deserves a closer look, well beyond the technological hype and the demand figures. The main objective of this paper is to discuss some characteristics of the HSR services from an economic viewpoint, while simultaneously developing an empirical framework that help us to understand in more detail the cost and demand sides of this transport alternative. This understanding is especially useful for future projects, since it will lead to a better analysis of the expected construction and operating costs, and of the number of passengers to be carried out under different economic and geographic conditions.
Impacts of Developments in Telecommunication Systems on Travel Demand and the Location of Office Firms
Office firms must communicate with other firms, mainly via face-to- face contacts. It has been understood that the need for such contacts is the driving force behind the agglomeration of office firms in the downtown area of cities; see, for example, O’Hara, (1977); Fujita and Ogawa, (1982); Tauchen and Witte, (1983, 1984).