Page 40 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 6

Delaplace, Marie.

1. Introduction

In January 2017, there were 37,343 km of high‐speed lines (HSLs) in the world, with a further
15,884 km under construction; almost 36,000 km were planned worldwide for completion by
2050 (UIC, 2017). By favouring mobility, these lines are used to develop exchanges between
cities and sometimes with other countries, in the case of transnational lines, and more
broadly to foster economic development. But forecasts for high‐speed rail projects tend to
overestimate traffic levels and underestimate their financial cost (Bonnafous, 2014). Moreover,
the potential indirect effects (or wider impacts) of high‐speed rail (HSR) on the local economy
are difficult to assess and not automatic (Bazin et al., 2006; Delaplace and Dobruszkes, 2013;
Vickerman, 2015). There is no structuring effect of high‐speed rail on local development (Offner,
1993 and more recently, in 2014, in the controversial debate in the French journal L’Espace
géographique). But this is an issue that needs to be re‐examined, as 21 ‐century rail has so
st
far been characterized by network extensions in developing or emerging countries (China,
1
Turkey) and by projects in many others (India, Brazil, Morocco, Malaysia, Egypt, etc.). These
high‐speed lines take shape in very different socio‐economic contexts from those of developed
countries. Can the issue of potential increases in mobility be addressed in the same way in both
sets of countries? In developing countries in particular, one key issue is knowing for whom and
for what use these lines are built. Does everybody have access to high‐speed rail in developing
countries? Are its uses and clients the same as in developed countries? Do factors such as low
income and greater inequalities, which characterize these developing countries, influence the
way transport infrastructure is used? The aim of this article is to show that high‐speed rail could
induce more inequalities in terms of access and use in developing countries than in developed
ones, not least because its uses differ spatially, economically and socially. This article suggests
analysing a less‐developed issue concerning the effects of high‐speed rail, namely the issue
of spatial, social and economic inequalities linked to high‐speed lines. Section 2 will consider
network extensions in developing countries that are characterized by great inequalities, while
Section 3 will address the issue of high‐speed rail effects on these inequalities. In Section 4, we
will illustrate our analysis using a case study in Morocco that will be in operation by June 2018;
and Section 5 contains some concluding remarks.

2. High‐speed rail in developing countries

High‐speed rail developed during the 20 century, first in Japan, from 1964, and then in European
th
countries (France and Italy in 1981, Germany in 1988, Spain in 1992, Belgium in 1997, etc.),
i.e. in developed countries that were designated as such . But since the beginning of the 21 st
2
century, highspeed rail has spread to and/or is planned for emerging or developing countries,
i.e. in countries characterized by greater inequalities.

2.1 The spread of HSR in the developing world

The first high‐speed line in a developing country was launched in China in 2003. This line, some
405 km in length, links Qinhuangdao and Shenyang. Since 2003, the network in China has been
expanding: in April 2017, a total of 23,914 km of high‐speed lines were in operation in China
(Table 1), which is more than the 22,551 km of existing lines in Europe.

1 In this article, we consider that this term encompasses all countries that are not considered to be developed.
These might be emerging countries, lower‐middle‐income countries or upper‐middle‐income countries according to
the classification of the World Bank.
2 Except Japan, which was considered an emerging country in 1964 when the first Shinkansen was introduced.

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