Page 157 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 6

Central versus Peripheral High-Speed Rail Stations: Opportunities For Companies to Relocate?
The cases of Reims Central Station and Champagne-Ardenne Station

equal footing with rent costs, proximity of services and the image of the district). In the case
of the one external relocation, the firm is especially interested in the proximity of the city
centre and the proximity of clients (50% each). In the case of the single exogenous creation,
the firm sought to benefit from the image of the district, low rent costs, proximity of services
and the HSR (25%). For local firms located in Clairmarais and Bezannes, the location factors are
more heterogeneous, with priority given to the proximity of clients (17.6% for Clairmarais and
30% for Bezannes) and the availability of offices for relocations. By contrast, outside firms that
do not know the area well reported just a few key factors such as available land, combined
with car parking and accessibility, including HSR. In both areas, local firms are characterized
by the importance of proximity to clients. With particular regard to HSR, firms in Bezannes
(whether internal or external relocations) appreciate a factor such as HSR accessibility (even
if this isn’t the only factor that counts), while in Clairmarais only new firms (endogenous or
exogenous creations, i.e. small businesses) mentioned it.

4.3 High‐speed rail use
In Clairmarais, firms declared more often that they used the HSR service than firms in Bezannes.
However, this HSR use varies according to the type of business in question. In Bezannes, the
one newly created firm (i.e. an exogenous creation) and 71.4% of internal relocations (7 firms)
declared that they use the HSR service (Table 8).

Table 8. Use of HSR and type of firm

Bezannes Clairmarais

No Yes Total No Yes Total

Endogenous 53.85% 46.15% 13 35.00% 65.00% 20
creation
Exogenous 0.00% 100.00% 1 44.44% 55.56% 9
creation
Relocation 50.00% 50.00% 4 0.00% 100.00% 2

Internal relocation 28.57% 71.43% 7 27.27% 72.73% 11

Total 44.00% 56.00% 25 33.33% 66.67% 42

Type No Yes Total No Yes Total

Source: authors’ own work.

In Clairmarais, all external relocations (2 firms) use it, as do 72.73% of internal relocations (11
firms). In each area, the frequency of use of HSR for work‐related travel is different (table 9).
In Bezannes, the HSR service is used by most firms several times per month.

International Congress on High-speed Rail: Technologies and Long Term Impacts - Ciudad Real (Spain) - 25th anniversary Madrid-Sevilla corridor 155