International High-Speed Rail Update (Part 2)

American transportation advocates working to modernize our country’s transportation network often point to other countries’ successes with high-speed rail, modern conventional trains and expansive rail transit networks.  Of course, foreign high-speed rail networks are not static, nor was it developed without its own trials and tribulations.

With that in mind, we provide Part 2 of our brief overview of recent happenings from the foreign high-speed rail sector.

Europe

In January of this year, Britain’s Secretary of State for Transport, Justine Greening, issued a decision to go forward with the country’s second high-speed rail line.  The project, dubbed High Speed 2 (HS2), was subject to one of the largest national consultations ever undertaken by the United Kingdom’s Department for Transport.  In the UK, HS2 is supported by all three major parties—with conservative Prime Minister David Cameron pushing the project forward even in the face of general austerity measures—but there was controversy over the exact alignment.  In her statement, Secretary Greening characterized the investment as following in the tradition of previous generations:

I have decided Britain should embark upon the most significant transport infrastructure project since the building of the motorways by supporting the development and delivery of a new national high speed rail network. By following in the footsteps of the 19th century railway pioneers, the Government is signalling its commitment to providing 21st century infrastructure and connections – laying the groundwork for long-term, sustainable economic growth.

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The HS2 Y network will provide direct, high capacity, high speed links between London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester, with intermediate stations in the East Midlands and South Yorkshire. There will also be direct links to Heathrow Airport and to the Continent via the HS1 line. It will form a foundation for a potentially wider high speed network in years to come.

HS2 will be built in two phases to ensure that the benefits of high speed rail are realised at the earliest possible opportunity. The line from London to the West Midlands and the connection to HS1 are expected to open in 2026, followed, in 2032-33, by the onward legs to Manchester and Leeds and the connection to Heathrow. The capital cost at 2011 prices of building the complete Y network is £32.7 billion [$51.5 billion]. At present values, it will generate benefits of up to £47 billion [$74.0 billion] and fare revenues of up to £34 billion [$53.5 billion] over a 60-year period.

Eurostar, the high-speed rail service the connects the United Kingdom to cities in France and Belgium, revealed that it made a profit of $32.7 million in its first year of operations as a standalone company, showing persistent growth in the face of a lagging economy (Eurostar was a subdivision of British Rail until September 2010).

Nicolas Petrovic, Chief Executive, Eurostar, said: “Eurostar continues to make good progress against a difficult economic backdrop and on-going uncertainty across Europe. Over the last year we have invested in upgrading our service and product and this has resulted in strong growth in sales revenues and passenger numbers. Having completed our first financial year as a standalone business and delivered a strong performance we are now well positioned to build on this momentum”

Total sales revenue in 2011 grew by 6%, from £760m to £803m [$1.19 billion to 1.26 billion], with particularly strong growth in the second half of the year. On a like for like basis, after adjusting the 2010 results for the volcanic ash cloud impact, sales revenues have grown by 10% and showed positive growth in each quarter throughout 2011.

Passenger numbers for the year ending 31 December 2011 rose 2% from 9.5 million to 9.7 million reflecting Eurostar’s continued focus on the customer experience and the increasing number of travellers choosing high-speed rail over plane for short haul travel in Europe.

Madrid, Spain’s capital city, announced in February that it would be using an extension and densification of its popular high-speed network as a strategic component of its bid to host the 2020 Olympic games:

The city of Madrid has revealed key details of its “compact” bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games, including plans for all sub-venues to be connected by a high-speed rail.

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Announcing details of its 2020 application, Madrid’s organisers unveiled plans for an AVE (high-speed rail) that will connect all of the Games sub-venues. Organisers also highlighted the fact that of the 36 sports venues within the bid proposal, 27 are already built.

Recent incidents in Italy, where February protests against a proposed high-speed rail lineturned violent, proves that controversy over high-speed rail isn’t confined strictly to America:

Prime Minister Mario Monti on Friday said Italy was determined to build a high-speed rail line to France and warned of a firm response to protests after clashes that injured 13 police officers.

The rail line will cost 20 billion euros ($26.4 billion) and is strongly opposed by some local residents in the Val di Susa in the Alps—who say it is costly and bad for the environment.

Its supporters say it is a vital project for Europe and would shorten the journey between Paris and Milan to four hours instead of seven hours at the moment, as well as taking a lot of truck traffic off the motorways.

The project is expected to be completed by 2023.

Australia
The Australian government announced in February that it had completed phase one of a AUD$61 to AUD$108 billion rail link that will connect the country’s east coast capitals and urban centers (Australian dollars roughly convert to U.S. dollars at a rate of 1:1.05).

The Australasian Railway Association (representing railroads in Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and New Zealand) issued a statement describing the significance of the study:

Driven by the Commonwealth Government with strong support from all political parties and the general public, Phase One of the high speed rail study plans preliminary high speed rail corridors along the east coast of Australia and outlines possible costs for the introduction of high speed rail in this region. Capital cities and major urban centres along the east coast including Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Newcastle, Sydney, Canberra, Wollongong, the Southern Highlands, Albury and Melbourne have been identified as potential areas to be linked by the high speed network.

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Phase one of the high speed rail study shows that Australians can travel from Sydney to Brisbane or Melbourne in three hours and to Canberra or Newcastle in less than one hour. The time saving will not only benefit commuters but will also enhance the country’s productivity. By shifting the movement of people from road to public transport, high speed rail will help address the congestion issue in major cities which currently costs Australia around $15-20 billion per year. In Sydney alone, the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics has estimated that over the 10 year period from 2010 to 2020, congestion is costing Sydney around $70 billion.

Phase two of the study, scheduled to be completed around 2014, will contain corridor alignments in detail, outline preliminary geotechnical issues and investment and financing options for this transformational infrastructure project.