COST 318: Interactions between High-Speed Rail and Air Passenger Transport. Final report

Summary:

With the inauguration of the first High-Speed Railway in Europe (1981) between Paris and Lyon a strong influence on Air Passenger Transport was observed. This influence has advantages and effects on both systems. So the proposal for an investigation of these two high speed systems was adopted for COST research topics.

The main objective of the COST Action is to identify and analyse the interactions and complementarities between high-speed rail (HSR) and air passenger transport (APT), and to stress the benefit which arises from these combined actions for users and public welfare.

As a general result can be emphasised that the area of influence of rail and air transport will alter significantly if HSR is realised for all connections with high traffic load: best effects result if both HSR and APT-netowrks are connected by efficient railway stations at all important airports.