In 2008 a high-speed rail
connection has been opened between Madrid and Barcelona shortening the time
getting from one city to the other to 2 hours and 38 minutes. The main goals of
the construction were the reduction in travel time on the corridor and the increase
of capacity and safety conditions on the rail line (Frontier, 2011).
There are numerous changes that followed the launch of
the HSR between Madrid and Barcelona. It shifts passengers from other transport
modes, for example car, traditional rail and air (Dyjak et al., 2011). Constructing a new line between the two cities that
are 600 km far from each other has a significant effect on air transport too (Rus, 2008). Previous to 2008 nearly 90 percent of the people travelling
between Madrid and Barcelona went by air, but since the HSR has been built the
number of passengers that go with train are increasing and even surpassing
passengers going with planes. This trend is pointing towards a more
environmentally friendly future as emissions per passenger on a high-speed
train are approximately one-fourth of the emissions generated by flying by
plane or driving a car. This is a great advantage as there is a growing public
concern about environmental issues in Europe (Bachtler & Wren,
2005).
Lowering the emission of carbon dioxide is however not
the main goal of most of the passengers who choose HSR to other means of
transport. It is also more comfortable and convenient to travel with HSR. The
train offers assigned reclining seats, computer outlets, movies, headsets, good
food and gloved attendants to make people satisfied while travelling in these
trains. Also, people can get to the station just 10 minutes before the
departure unlike at airports, thus lowering the time spent on travelling. These
are the main reasons why though it is not cheaper to travel by HSR than by plane
between Madrid and Barcelona many choose this form of travelling (Rosenthal, 2010).
Also, polycentricism is a goal in Spain. As there is a
low location index in Spain, with expanding the high-speed railway network the
country tries to avoid concentration and centralization of the economic
activity (Dyjak et al., 2011). The HSR line between Madrid and Barcelona has an
impact on mobility, accessibility, socio-economic structure, urban image and
spatial effects. These factors are considered to be significant but it is hard
to quantify them in monetary terms (Frontier, 2011).
One of the most striking examples for the growing
economic activity caused by HSR is the town of Ciudad Real located 120 miles
from Madrid which has completely vanished because of the railway and the
highway that bypassed the town. Now that an HSR station is located near the
town and makes travel a lot less time-consuming, Ciudad Real has come alive as
the HSR attracted a host of industries. Also, the University of
Castilla-Lamancha has grown in size and importance too just because it is
linked by the HSR (Catan, 2009).
Spain was always a top destination of tourists from
all around the world. Now that more and more HSR lines are being built
connecting cities all over the country it is easier not just for the workforce
to be more flexible but also for the tourists to discover the cultural
diversity of different Spanish regions (Raileurope, 2011). First, mostly business travelers were expected on
the line between Barcelona and Madrid, but it is busy on the weekends too which
means that Spanish people and tourists also use it to discover the cities. The
government says that high-speed trains boost tourism which is the nation’s
biggest industry and business travel. Also, constructing and maintaining a line
make jobs for thousands of people. In the cities near the lines many companies
that are involved in the different sectors of high-speed rail are investing in
offices, plants and yards near the stations (Sheehan & Bee,
2012).
However, there are downsides too of the HSR line
between Madrid and Barcelona. One of the problems is the corridor effect that
shows the problem of the development of regions located between junctions of
HSR lines. In these cases the infrastructure passes through the regions in
between the stops without having much impact (Dyjak et al., 2011).
Moreover, the Spanish government wants to spend up to
77 billion dollars to expand and improve the lines while there is still an economic
crisis. When they built the
Madrid-Barcelona line Spain it the economy was rising, but maybe now it would
be wiser to cut the spending. Even if the number of passengers that choose HSR
rises, the railroad system cannot cover its costs yet even between Madrid and
Barcelona (Sheenan, 2012).
There are protests against the HSR too. A violent
separatist group in the Basque country called Eta has launched an environmental
campaign against the train. They even shot a local contractor in 2008 because
he worked on the line (Tremlett, 2009). This shows that some people don’t want the country
that is separated out somewhat to be intertwined (Catan, 2009), because they fear their independency and that they
would assimilate to the rest of the country.
Nóra Szabó
References
Bachtler, J., &
Wren, C. (2005). The evaluation of EU cohesion policy: Research questions andpolicy challenges.
Catan, T. (2009). Spain’s Bullet Train Changes Nation. The Wall Street
Journal.
Dyjak, R., Magda, I., Rosik, P., Zawistowski, J., Gapski, T., &
Bienias, S. (2011). Evidence based Cohesion Policy and its role in achieving
Europe 2020 objectives. In T. Gapski, S. Bienias, & E. Opalka (Eds.), .
National Cohesion Strategy.
Raileurope. (2011). High Speed Rail News: Travel by High-Speed Train inSpain. High Speed Rail News.
Rosenthal, E. (2010). High-Speed Rail Gains Traction in Spain. The New
York Times. Retrieved from
Rus, G. D. (2008). The economic effects of High Speed Rail investment. OECD/ITF
Joint Transport Research Centre Discussion.
Sheehan, T., & Bee, F. (2012). Economic impact of high-speed railvaries in Spain. San Francisco Chronicle.
Sheenan, T. (2012). Spain’s high-speed rail system offers lessons forCalifornia. The Orange County Register.
Tremlett, G. (2009). High-speed rail in Spain: From Madrid to Barcelonain a flash. Guardian.
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