Introduction to Tourism Transport. CABI Tourism Texts by S. Gross & L. Klemmer

Author:S. Gross & L. Klemmer [Gross, S.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: CABI
Published: 2014-08-25T16:00:00+00:00

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Trying to pinpoint the exact number of rail operators worldwide is a difficult task; however, within Europe there are at least 600 (derived from VDB, 2010). Based on total revenue figures, the five biggest European rail operators in 2011 were SNCF, DB Bahn, Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), Schweizerische Bundesbahn (SBB) and Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) + Abellio (DB AG, 2013). An overview of worldwide track infrastructure broken down by continents is given in Table 6.2, as well as a more detailed overview of the European infrastructure. It should be noted that North America has a track infrastructure of 275,000 km, Russia covers 87,000 km, followed by China with about 75,000 km and India with 63,000 km. Other states with a large track network are Australia (38,550 km), Argentina (32,000 km), South Africa (21,000 km) and Mexico (18,000 km) (CIA, 2013).

As can be seen in Table 6.3, there are 50 high-speed lines currently in operation in Europe, 19 are under construction and a further 42 are planned for the near future (UIC, 2012). This translates to 6914 km of high-speed lines, or sections of lines, in which trains currently operate at speeds over 250 km/h; 2936 km are under construction and 8384 km are planned. The evolution of high-speed rail in Europe is illustrated in Fig. 6.8.

The USA currently has one high-speed line operating along the North East Corridor between Boston and New York although another line is planned between Los Angeles and Sacramento. Furthermore, President Obama has proposed a long-term strategy to build an efficient, high-speed passenger rail network of 100–600-mile (160–965-km) intercity corridors as part of a modernized transportation system for the USA. The Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 (PRIIA) is the legislation that established competitive grant programmes to fund high-speed and intercity-rail capital improvements, while the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 contained further ‘jump start’ appropriations (US Department of Transportation, 2009b). Interestingly, Canada has no high-speed lines although several routes, such as Toronto–Montreal, Montreal–Boston–New York, Vancouver–Seattle, and Calgary–Edmonton, have been discussed.

Table 6.2. Worldwide and European track infrastructure (in km). (From UIC, 2009; VDB, 2011, p. 8; VDB, 2012, p. 8; EUROSTAT, 2013b.)

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