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High-speed rail is public transport by rail with a possible speed above 200 km/h (125 miles per hour).
Typically high speed trains travel at top service speeds of between 250 km/h (150 mph) to 300 km/h (180 mph). Although the world speed record for a wheeled train was set in 1990 by a French TGV which reached a speed of 515 km/h (320 mph), the experimental Japanese magnetic levitation train has reached 581 km/h.
The International Union of Railways' high speed task force provides definitions of high speed rail travel [1], but note that there is no one single definition of the term, but rather a combination of elements - new or upgraded track, rolling stock, operating practices - that lead to high speed rail operations.
Railways were the first form of mass transportation, and until the invention of the motorcar in the early 20th century, had an effective monopoly on land transport. In the decades after World War II, improvements in automobiles, highways, and aircraft made those means practical for a greater portion of the population than previously. In Europe and Japan emphasis was given to rebuilding the railways after the war. In the United States, emphasis was given to building a huge national highway system (at great expense and with public funds) and airports. Urban mass transport systems in the USA were largely neglected.
High-speed rail was conceived as an attempt to win back railway passengers who had been lost to other means of travel; in most cases it has been quite successful to this end.
There are constraints on the growth of the highway and air travel systems, widely cited as traffic congestion, or capacity limits. Airports have limited capacity to serve passengers during peak travel times, as do highways. High speed rail, which has potentially very high capacity on its fixed corridors, offers the promise of relieving congestion on the other systems. Prior to World War II conventional passenger rail was the principal means of intercity transport. Passenger rail services have lost their primary role in transport since, due to the small proportion of journeys made by rail.
High-speed rail has the advantage over automobiles in that it can travel at speeds far faster than those possible by automobile, and avoid congestion. For relatively short distances, of less than around 650 km (400 miles), high-speed train travel has an advantage over air travel, in that it does not require long check in delays, which eliminates the speed advantage of air travel for short-haul flights. Train travel also permits far greater capacity and frequency of service than is possible with air travel.
For most journeys that don't connect city centre to city centre, the door to door travel time and the total cost of high speed rail is comparable to that of driving, a fact often mentioned by critics of HST. Supporters argue however that journeys by HST are less strenuous and more productive than car journeys.
The early target areas identified by the French, the Japanese, and the Americans are connections between pairs of large nearby cities. In France this was ParisEiffel Tower has become the symbol of Paris throughout the world. Paris is the capital and largest city of France. The city is built on an arc of the River Seine, and is thus divided into two parts: the Right Bank to the north and the smaller Left Bank to- LyonThis article is about the French city. For other usages (as Lyons , see Lyons (disambiguation). Lyon Region Rhone-Alpes Departement Rhone Arrondissement Lyon Cantonschief town of 14 cantons Population (1999)453,187 Population of the metropolitan area aire, in Japan TokyoTokyo (; Tokyo lit. eastern capital) is the capital of Japan as well as the most populous conurbation in Japan, and the world's largest metropolitan area by population with 33,750,000 people living within its urban influence. A little more than 12 million- Osaka, and in the USA the proposals are in high density areas, with the only high speed rail service in the Northeast CorridorThe Northeast Corridor is an electrified railway line running from Washington, DC to Boston, Massachusetts. Currently operated and mostly owned by Amtrak, it offers the only true high-speed rail service in the United States (the Acela Express). Several co between Boston - New YorkNew York is a state in the northeastern United States whose U. postal abbreviation is NY . It is sometimes called New York State when there is need to distinguish it from New York City. History See: History of New York New York was one of the thirteen col - Washington, D.C. This was accomplished with minimal expense as the existing railroad infrastructure, built in the 1930s, was then the most advanced in the world.
Market segmentation has principally focused on the business travel market. The French focus on business travelers is reflected in the nature of their rail cars (including the all-important bar-car). Pleasure travel is a secondary market, though many of the French extensions connect with vacation beaches on the Atlantic and Mediterranean, as well as all major amusement parks. In fact, Friday evenings are the peak time for TGV (Metzler, 1992). The system has lowered prices on long distance travel to compete more effectively with air services, and as a result some cities within an hour of Paris by TGV have become commuter communities, thus increasing the market while restructuring land use. A side effect of the first high-speed rail lines in France was the opening up of previously isolated rural regions to fast development. Some later high-speed lines where planned primarily for this purpose, such as the Madrid- Sevilla line and the proposed Amsterdam- Groningen line.
Five years after construction began on the line, the first Japanese high speed rail line opened on the eve of the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, connecting the capital with Osaka. This Olympic target date clearly reflects mercantilist interests in the promotion of modern Japan to the world. The French high-speed rail, the TGV, was opened in 1981 by SNCF, the French rail agency, also after many years of planning, beginning in 1966 and construction beginning in 1976. The opening ceremonies were a significant event, being reported internationally, but not associated with a major showpiece such as a World's fair or Olympic Games.
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