Page 48 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 6

Delaplace, Marie.

3.5 Inequalities in terms of competencies required to use high‐speed rail

As Orfeuil pointed out (2010, 7), “mobility is also a matter of competence”. In both developed
and developing countries, there may be a form of exclusion linked to the inability to construct
a travel itinerary. Because of a very simplified world representation, it may be difficult for
certain population categories to identify journey break points, etc. Others may not be able to
build complex routes involving transfers between stations. Similarly, populations without bank
accounts and/or internet access or who do not have a smartphone cannot buy tickets remotely.
Indeed, like any new object, high‐speed rail must be appropriated and domesticated (Haddon,
2011) in order to be used (Akrich, 1990). The ability to plan a journey to discover a museum,
city, region or country depends on the competencies of individuals. The cultural resources (or
cultural capital – Bourdieu, 1979) available to them determine their ability to envisage a given
destination and a particular journey. This capacity or “capability”, to use Sen’s terminology can
be analysed as the possibility for each individual to choose the type of life he or she wishes, “the
various combinations of functionings (beings and doings)” (Sen, 1989, p. 44) that the person can
achieve, and consequently the associated form of mobility or immobility. However, this capacity
is linked to one’s level of education, which in developing countries is on average lower than in
the so‐called developed countries, as shown by the inequality‐adjusted education index (Table 4).

Table 4. Index of Inequality‐adjusted education in developing countries with
operational or planned HSLs
Inequality‐adjusted Inequality‐adjusted education
Country HDI
education (%) index (value)
Pays à revenu intermédiaire de la tranche inférieure
India 0.624 39,4 0, 324
Vietnam 0.683 17,6 0, 508
Morocco 0.647 45,8 0, 273
Egypt 0.691 35,0 0, 390
Indonesia 0.689 20,8 0, 492
South Africa 0.666 13,8 0, 608
Pays à revenu intermédiaire de la tranche supérieure
Thailand 0.740 16,1 0, 538
Iran 0.774 37,3 0, 441
Kazakhstan 0.794 5,9 0, 758
China 0.738 Nc Nc
Mexico 0.762 19,7 0, 525
Brazil 0.754 22,6 0, 527
Russia 0.804 2,2 0, 798

Malaysia 0.789 Nc Nc
Turkey 0.767 14,2 0, 574
Developing countries 0.668 31 0,391

High countries 0.892 7,2 0, 797
Based on data from Human development report, 2016

From this point of view, and to paraphrase Myrdal (1957), there may be circular and cumulative
causality in terms of inequality in developing countries. High‐speed rail might increase the
already significant inequalities in these countries.

46 360.revista de alta velocidad