Page 144 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 6

Beckerich, Christophe. Benoit, Sylvie. Delaplace, Marie.

network (Martin, 1997). Nevertheless, according to Crozet, the positive impacts of accessibility
gains on productivity are conditional (Crozet, 2015). In such cases, the station with the better
accessibility will be preferred. But, as quoted by Banister and Givoni (2011), journey time by
high‐speed train is not the only transport time to take into account. Access and egress times
– the amount of time it takes to get to and from stations – could also reduce the time savings
generated by HSR.
Third, establishing a firm in the district around an HSR station may facilitate access to larger
pools of skilled labour insofar as HSR services make it possible to bring cities closer together
in terms of the time taken to cover the distance between them. In cases like these, the labour
force living in such cities would find it easier to come and work for firms located in the station
districts of cities served by HSR. In this way, HSR would enlarge the labour market (Preston,
2009, Cheng, 2009, Kamel and Matthewman, 2008) and improve the mobilization of highly
skilled labour (Haynes 1997). In this case, it is again the issue of access to different transport
modes, including conventional rail transport (Willigers, 2011), that is crucial, whether the
station is central or peripheral.
Fourth, while the function of the stations is to be rail hubs or more generally transport hubs,
they are also increasingly public spaces (Bertolini and Spit, 1998). By generating urban renewal
and refurbishment operations around stations (Terrin, 2011, Pol, 2008, Bazin et al., 2009 &
2010, Yin et al., 2014), high‐speed rail services reinforce the role of the station as a public
space (De Jong, 2009, Mannone, 1997), a veritable urban hub (Bourdin, 2011) characterized
by different types of flows, in particular flows of people. Establishing a firm in a station
district may ensure proximity for customers passing through the station. In this case, it is the
proximity to end customers who use rail transport – though not necessarily HSR transport – that
would explain the location of tertiary and commercial activities around central stations. But
peripheral stations could also generate new urban centrality in dynamic ways, in particular
when they are characterized by residential real‐estate programmes. Lastly, the choice to
locate in a peripheral area or a central area depends on the cost and the value of each location
for a given firm. Within a given city, the cost of a location depends on business realestate
prices; indeed, real estate is the second‐largest expense after labour within most organizations
(Ward, 2016). But as regards the price of residential real estate (Beckerich, 2001), and as
shown by the hedonic pricing method (Lancaster, 1966; Rosen, 1974, Nappi‐Choulet et al.,
2007), the value of an area first depends on the amenities it provides. And these amenities are
linked in turn to accessibility and more generally to different public policies with respect to
education, employment, and so forth. Amenities are more plentiful in the city centre (Crouzet,
2003) because centrality offers more externalities in terms of transport and information than
peripherality (Crouzet, 2003). Consequently, the price of business real estate is higher in the
city centre than in the periphery. A firm looking for a location thus has to arbitrate between
land and real‐estate costs and centrality.
In cases where sensitivity to land and real‐estate prices is high and large plots of land or offices
are required for the company’s activity, a peripheral location may be favoured. However, from
a dynamic perspective, such location choices could lead to tertiary companies also seeking to
locate around peripheral stations, resulting ultimately in price increases (see also Willigers,
2011).
To conclude, location choice can be linked to the type and level of accessibility of each type
of station, to the type of customer proximity sought (customers passing through the station or
clients located in other cities served by HSR), to the need for access to a large pool of qualified
labour, to the existence of local clients, to the existence of other companies, and to the cost
of real estate.

142 360.revista de alta velocidad