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

Nevertheless, despite these similarities, each station is characterized by different
dynamics. Around the central station, buildings were renovated or constructed ahead of
the arrival of HSR, and company locations in the area were not halted by the economic
crisis. By contrast, the crisis did have an impact on the development of the business parks
around Champagne‐Ardenne station, delaying their realization until 2015. Moreover, the
companies in each area tend to be from different business sectors. Lastly, the location
factors for firms in each area are similar but not identical by any means. Around both
stations, office availability and the image of the district are the main location factors,
but subsequent factors vary: the presence of HSR is a more important location factor in
Clairmarais, but one that appears some way down the list in the location‐factor hierarchy.
By contrast, it was more often cited as the number‐one location factor by firms located
near the peripheral ChampagneArdenne station. Furthermore, it doesn’t play the same
role in each area: while HSR is one element of more general accessibility considerations
in Bezannes, it is more important and used more in Clairmarais, where rail services to and
from Paris play a more essential role.

In this way, by inducing a dynamic of business‐district or business‐park creation, HSR
structures the urban space and segments it by function, with service‐sector activities in
the city centre and industry‐ and sales‐related administrative activities on the outskirts,
where firms can find large offices and good accessibility without the high costs of city‐
centre locations in terms of car parking and office rents.

To conclude, in the case of Reims, while location choice is partly linked to the type and
level of accessibility provided by HSR in each type of station, it also depends on the types
of firms in question, and in particular whether they are new or existing companies. For
newly created outside firms, the most important location factors are office space, access
to Paris, and lower rents than in Paris. For relocations within Reims, office availability and
the proximity of clients passing through the station are most important in the case of the
central station. Surprisingly, both surveys revealed that access of a large pool of qualified
jobs in the Paris region was not an important factor for firms choosing to locate in Reims. It
confirms that the economic climate is very important for business parks around peripheral
stations but not for business districts around central stations, as centrality seems to be an
insurance factor.

With an increase in the number of services to and from Paris – combined with existing
services to Marne‐la‐Vallée Chessy and the fact that the future Grand Paris Express network
will link the east of the Paris region with the north and south without having to pass through
central Paris – the accessibility of Champagne‐Ardenne station could be highly improved.

6. References

• Agences d’urbanisme du Grand‐Est (2005), Les impacts territoriaux du TGV Est et
du TGV Rhin‐Rhône pour les agglomérations du Grand‐Est de la
France,. <http://www.adu‐montbeliard.fr/.../364.etu_ex_impacts_tgv_est_rhin_
rhone_050705.pdf>.

• AUPHAN, E. (2002), “Le TGV Méditerranée: un pas décisif dans l’évolution du modèle
français à grande vitesse”. Méditerranée, 98(1–2):19–26.

• BAZIN, S., BECKERICH, C., DELAPLACE, M.( 2009), Desserte TGV et localisation des entreprises
sur les quartiers d’affaires: nouvelle accessibilité ou nouvelle offre immobilière de bureaux
? Le cas de la gare centre de Reims, Les Cahiers Scientifiques des Transports(56) : 37‐61

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