Number of fast railways ‘to double’
France is currently leading the way in fast-train services
As the UK government decides whether to go ahead with the HS2 high-speed rail project, the number of countries expected to run fast-train services is expected to nearly double over the next few years.
By 2014, high-speed trains are expected to operate in 24 countries, according to figures from US-based research organisation Worldwatch Institute.
France is leading the way in Europe and with China, Japan, Germany and Spain accounts for two-thirds of the world’s high-speed rail fleet.
In UK Transport Secretary Justine Greening is due next month to make a final decision on the £34 billion HS2, which would run from London to Birmingham in its first phase and then on to northern England and Scotland.
HS2 has been more fiercely fought for and more bitterly opposed than practically any other major piece of UK transport infrastructure.
Worldwatch said the increase in high-speed rail was due “largely to its reliability and ability to cover vast geographic distances in a short time, to investments aimed at connecting once-isolated regions, and to the diminishing appeal of air travel, which is becoming more cumbersome because of security concerns”.
Worldwatch senior researcher Michael Renner remarked: “The rise in HSR has been very rapid. In just three years, between January 2008 and January 2011, the operational fleet grew from 1,737 high-speed trainsets worldwide to 2,517. By 2014, the global fleet is expected to total more than 3,700 units.”
HS2 trains could reach speeds of up to 250 mph. Worldwatch said HSR speeds, typically, are around 156 mph on new tracks and around 125 mph on upgraded tracks.
Between 2009 and 2011, the total length of operational HSR track has grown from around 6,650 miles to around 10,500 miles.
Just under 5,000 miles is currently under construction, and around 11,000 miles more is planned, for a combined total of around 26,700 miles.
That is equivalent to about four per cent of all rail lines – passenger and freight – in the world today.
HSR accounted for 23 per cent of the French rail network in 1990 and this figure has raced ahead to 62 per cent by 2008, with France having draft plans to spend around £75 billion on HSR over the next two decades, Worldwatch said.
It added that in Japan, in places where both air and HSR connections are available, rail has captured a 75 per cent share of the market.
Worldwatch said that Turkey had plans to operate up to 1,500 miles of HSR, while Italy, Portugal and the US all hoped to reach track lengths of more than 600 miles.
If given the green light, HS2’s first phase would not be completed until 2026, with the northern extension expected to be finished by around 2032/33.