High Speed Rail 2

Essay by Baber62University, Master'sA-, November 2014

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HIGH SPEED RAIL

TRANSPORT SOCIETY AND PLANNING

MSc TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERING AND PLANNING (PT)

LECTURER: CHRIS MILLS

STUDENT: BABER BEG

STUDENT No.: 3301044

London South Bank University

School of the Built Environment and Architecture

103 Borough Road, London, SE1 0AA

www.lsbu.ac.uk

TRANSPORT PLANNING AND SOCIETY

Baber Beg

Student ID: 3301044

INTRODUCTION

In this briefing note the analysis of high speed rail are presented with respect to the benefits provided by this travel mode. Many countries have developed high-speed rail to connect major cities, including Belgium, Britain, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and the United States.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

The railway system in the UK is the oldest in the world, with the first public railway opening in 1825. Most of the railway track is managed by Network Rail, which in 2014 had a network of 15,753km of standard gauge lines of which 5,268 km has been electrified.

These lines range from single, double and quadruple track. In addition, some cities have rail-based mass transit systems such as the historical London Underground and the recently opened overland line which connects from Watford Junction in the north to West Croydon in the south. The British railway network is linked to with continental Europe by an undersea rail link, the Channel Tunnel Link, which was opened in 1994. The majority of the rail network in Britain consists of lines constructed during the Victorian era, which are limited to speeds no greater than 200 kilometres per hour. [1: ]

High-speed rail arrived in the United Kingdom with the opening in 2003 of the first part of High Speed 1 (then known as the 108-kilometre Channel Tunnel Rail Link) between London and the Channel Tunnel. International passenger services are currently provided by Eurostar, with journey times of London St Pancras to...