00740695

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/1584-01

http://scholar.google.com...arin&publication_year=1997

The social, economic, and environmental benefits and costs of implementing high-speed ground transportation (HSGT) service could offset some of the investment required for implementation. These potential impacts are called "externalities" or "external benefits and costs" because they are external to the economic market for HSGT service. The methodology framework used to project external benefits and costs of HSGT for the commercial feasibility study under the auspices of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is described. The externalities are defined and classified, and the general approach to estimating externalities and applying the resulting methodologies is discussed. The principles of two key methodologies for estimating reduced delay to airport and highway users from diversions to HSGT are summarized. A quantitative overview of the results is presented for the California, Chicago hub, and Northeast corridors. Social benefits and costs were found to be an important part of the potential benefits of high-speed rail. Except for some low-speed technologies, only the combined public and user benefits exceed costs. The "traditional" time-saving benefits dominate the public benefits, comprising 92 to 98% of total public benefit. Environment (emission) benefits went down with rail speed because of proportionately lower diversions from highway and higher diversions from air with higher rail speed. Significant work remains in developing and applying benefit/cost techniques to rail evaluation: procedures for calculation of environmental benefits are the most undeveloped; in general, procedures for rail impact evaluation are not yet standardized and are developed on a case-by-case basis.

This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1584, Railroad Research Topics: Costs of High-Speed Rail, Communications-Based Control, and Track Research.

English

p. 1-7

1997

Transportation Research Record

0309061555

Figures (1) ; References (5) ; Tables (2)

Benefit cost analysis; Benefits; Costs; Economic benefits; Environmental impacts; Estimating; Externalities; High speed ground transportation; Methodology; Social benefits; Traffic delays

Reduction (Decrease)

Economics; Environment; Finance; Highways; Railroads; Society

TRIS, TRB

Sep 17 1997 12:00AM

• COST OF SPEED: ANALYSIS OF CAPITAL COST ESTIMATES FOR HIGH-SPEED GROUND TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
• CROSS-CORRIDOR COMPARISON OF OPERATING COSTS FOR HIGH-SPEED GROUND TRANSPORTATION
• FIBER-OPTIC SENSING TECHNOLOGY FOR RAIL-BUCKLING DETECTION
• THREE-DIMENSIONAL NONLINEAR STABILITY ANALYSIS OF TANGENT CONTINUOUS WELDED RAIL TRACK UNDER TEMPERATURE AND MECHANICAL LOADS
• TRAIN DISPATCHING EFFECTIVENESS WITH RESPECT TO COMMUNICATIONS-BASED TRAIN CONTROL: QUANTIFICATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP