High Speed Rails

Contents
High Speed Rails 3
Chapter I - Introduction 3
I.1 Statement of the Problem 3
I.2 Question of the Study 3
I.3 Objective of the Paper 3
I. 4 Significance of the Study 4
Chapter II - Literature Review 4
II.1 Introduction and a Short Page of History 4
II.2 What is it exactly? A Definition 5
II. 3 What Are the Costs? 6
II. 4 Advantages of High-Speed Rails 8
II. 5 Disadvantages of High-Speed Rails 12
II. 6 Pollution 13
Chapter III – Methodology 18
Chapter IV – Findings 18
Chapter V – Conclusion 21

Abstract
Technological developments are always meant to ease humans’ lives, in terms of commodity, and to offer performing solutions for their needs. However, often the technological developments are working in the benefit of humankind evolution, but in the detriment of the nature. High-speed rails are a model of such solutions, meant to improve humans’ lives. Their high speeds (between 200 and 431 km/hour), and their easy boarding (the time spent in boarding is less than 30 minutes, depending on the travelling class), transform the meaning of travelling, making it a real experience.
Moreover, the high-speed rails lead to indirect benefits such as allowing the possibility to travel for business purposes, or to working relocation.
On the other hand, indirectly, high-speed rails create negative outcomes: urban agglomerations because of this efficient transportation mode, automatically lead to people deserting the rural regions, for finding job in urban areas, and to discover another lifestyle. This also results in more urban pollution. The high speed rails are sources of pollution themselves, considering the resources and the technological processes used for constructing the infrastructure, for maintenance, for operating them, and of course, for their vehicles.
This paper explores the advantages and disadvantages of the high-speed rails in terms of economic efficiency and in term of environmental sustainability. There are many disputes between specialists regarding the cost efficiency of investing in this transportation mode. Scholars also argue about the high speed rails orientation towards protecting the environment. The present study will illustrate the different forms of pollution that high speed rails (HSR) can produce, and compare them to the pollution forms produced by other transportation modes.

Chapter I - Introduction
I.1 Statement of the Problem
Modern transportation nowadays seems to defy the sense of speed, and to offer an extra experience besides satisfying the basic travel need. High Speed Rails (HSR) is a real wonder of the modern world, reaching from 200 km/h (Japan) to 431 km/hour (China, Shanghai). (Marthur and Srinivasan, 2009). This unimaginable speed, on the ground, increases the transportation opportunities, being a significant alternative to plane transportation, for instance, for which many people still have a phobia, being afraid to fly.
I.2 Question of the Study
However, this transportation solution implies significant costs of production and of maintenance. In an instable economy, where countries deal with internal frictions, societal problems (an increased unemployment rate all over the world, a decrease of social funds, pensions, and so on), is HSR really needed? Can people afford HSR? What are the advantages and the disadvantages of HSR? Is it an economical transportation solution?
I.3 Objective of the Paper
As this transportation service develops and there are more and more passengers choosing this path for their travels, there are also an increased number of researches dedicated to this service. The main emphasis is on the economy of the high-speed rails. Hence, this paper will also aim to identify the economic aspects of the HSR, by analyzing the latest studies dedicated to this subject. The paper will follow the HSR from United States and from abroad, examining their advantages and disadvantages, being permanently focused on the economic aspects of this modern transportation solution. This paper will present a short history of the high-speed rails and of the technological innovations that occurred when conceiving and designing these trains. It will also enlarge about the types of HSR existent, presenting their advantages and disadvantages, from an economic or social point of view. The HSR will also be compared and contrasted with the other transportation services existent: ground transportation (classical trains), highway, or air transportation.

I. 4 Significance of the Study
By determining the economical context of introducing the HSR in the developed, or developing countries, this study can serve as a background research for other countries to take into consideration when deciding to apply this transportation system. By presenting the social advantages and disadvantages of this service, this study will constitute an additional information source for people who decide to use this service for their transportation purpose.
Chapter II - Literature Review
II.1 Introduction and a Short Page of History
This chapter will illustrate the development of the high-speed rails, as they are exposed in the recent studies. The proponent of this research will analyze the existent researches on this topic, and will present the information relevant for this research paper. In this respect, there will be analyzed Journal articles, aiming to identify the socio-economical perspectives related to the investments in HSR.
The beginning of the high speed rails was in 1964, being launched once with the Asian Olympic Games, hosted by Japan. Back then, Japan launched in railway circulation the Shinkasen, the arrow-rail. This was the first high speed rail in the world. The idea was soon “stolen” and many other countries adapted the arrow-rail in their railway transportation. This was the first sign that in the railway transportation system felt the need of a significant circulation speed increase. The time revealed that the high-speed circulation on the railway was not just a simple utopia, and the fantasist ambition of the railway construction was a necessary adaptation to the requests of the new developing eras.
Besides the fact that it produces sensation, the arrow train inaugurated in Japan, was an anticipated premiere of the direction that the international railway transportation was about to follow. In the beginning of the 70s, the French built their own alternative of high-speed trains – Train a Grand Vitesse (TGV). Next, it followed the German model, ICE3, built by Siemens, reaching 300 km/hour. After this, the French constructors from Alstom teamed with the Germans from Siemens and built the Spanish train, Talgo, which run with 350 km/hour.

II.2 What is it exactly? A Definition
As the name indicates, HSR is a rail system designed for really high speed (depending on the utilized technology it can reach from 200 to over 430 km/h). These speeds require for special rails, so that the HSR trains can properly function, at their maximum capacity. Therefore, they involve the construction of new tracks but the trains used on them can also function with a reduced speed. (Nash, 2009).
Therefore, when introducing the HSR in a new location, the local government must first consider the costs of adapting their tracks to the technological requirements of this new transportation system. Usually, countries are upgrading their existing tracks in order to cope with the higher speed. The inconsistency with this plan is that trains run at speeds of 200 km/h, or beyond, in this situations. For a more efficiency, there have to be built brand new special designer HSR tracks. (Nash, 2009).
There was also identified a definition provided by the European Union, referring to the high speed rail system in terms of rights-of-way and vehicle characteristics. In terms of rights of-way, the EU states that the HSR are specially designed and built high-speed lines that are adapted to speeds generally equal or greater than 250 m/h or specially upgraded high-speed lines equipped with special features as a result of a local infrastructure adapted to topographical or town planning constraints. The high-speed rail trains are defined as high speed advanced technology trains that need to be designed for assuring the passenger’s safety and uninterrupted travel. (Neff, 2011).
II. 3 What Are the Costs?
There are a significant number of studies dedicated to the effectiveness of high speed rails, matched against the other transportation means and compared to the economical context of when they were introduced in different countries.
Levinson, Kanafi and Gillen clearly take into consideration all the costs involved in designing new rail tracks, for adapting to the high speed rails, and the costs of introducing and practically implementing this transportation service in different locations. Such cost factors are: “building, operating and maintaining infrastructure, carrier, user, and external or social costs such as noise, pollution, and accidents.” (1999, p. 2). Nash also identifies these costs and he points additional ones: construction of new lines and stations, and purchasing new rolling stock. He also emphasis on the operating costs for the externalities of noise, air pollution or global warming effects. (2009).
There are not singularly financial costs that need to be analyzed, but also environmental ones, according to these authors. In fact, this is a really significant aspect to be considered, especially now, with the legislation oriented towards conserving the nature and using renewable energy in order to save as much as possible natural resources. On the other hand, for the significance of this study, this consideration is highly important. This aspect was not considered in the objectives of this paper, but in the learning process, the proponent of this study learnt the relevance of the environmental perspective.
Supporters of HSR claim that this transportation mean promotes the economic development and the social effectiveness, helping people in meeting their travel needs. Peterman, Fritelli, and Mallet sustain that HSR will very soon develop into a performing industry, and there will be created jobs in planning, designing, or building HSR. According to the above-mentioned scholars, these perspectives will create long-term jobs, sustaining the economic development of the countries that adopt and invest in this transportation system. The authors present an illustrative example in this respect: “the California High Speed Rail Authority argues that its proposal for a HSR connecting northern and southern Californian cities will create 160,000 short-term construction-related jobs, and 450,000 long-term jobs.” (California High Speed Rail Authority in Peterman, Frittelli, Mallett, 2009, p. 17).
Levinson, Kanafani and Gillen observe that when deciding to invest in a high speed rail infrastructure, as a transportation mode, there are several additional costs to its practical construction and maintenance such as: previsions about the accident costs, air pollution, noise, congestion, and users’ travel time. (1999). These costs should be compared to other forms of infrastructure, with the cost implied in building, maintaining and other internal costs of different means of transportation. For instance, the cost of building and maintaining high-speed railways is much greater than the social costs involved in building and maintaining highways. But is it as efficient as the HSR system?
Peterman, Frittelli, Mallett (2009) discuss about the operating costs of the HSR, which refer to labor costs, fuel or electric power, and other expenses that may appear. Depending on the number of trains that are operated in a specific region, the high-speed rails can represent a major public expense if the train operator cannot generate a sufficient number of passengers for covering these expenses with the ticket prices.
Therefore, a major question that government must ask themselves when considering implementing a high speed railway system is if there will be enough ridership to cover the constructing and operating the HSR infrastructure and putting it to use. A Transportation Research Board (“In Pursuit of Speed: New Options of Intercity Passenger Transport”), quoted by Peterman, Frittelli, Mallett (2009), estimates the ridership level needed to cover the costs of high speed systems to 6 to 9 million passengers annually.
However, these constructing and operating costs can be significantly reduced. A solution in this direction would be to upgrade the existent railways with the HSR technology, as shown earlier in this research. Nevertheless, the effectiveness and the speed of the high speed trains will be directly proportional with its initial constructing and operating investments.
Other researches stat that the estimations of cost for constructing high speed railway may vary, depending on the intended speed, the geography of the corridor, the cost of right – of – way factor, and other additional factors. Population density is another factor that needs to be considered. In the geographic areas where the density is higher, the construction costs are more likely to be covered than in the areas with low population density, considering the fact that there are more people who can travel by HSR. (Peterman, Frittelli, Mallett, 2009).
Orienting towards high-speed railway system translates into more fiscal possibilities for municipalities, into a reduced orientation towards the automobile transportation (meaning a decrease of CO2 emissions), and long-term jobs for the workers activating in this segment. When deciding to build HSR transportation systems, the governments must consider the fact that there must be made major changes in the land – use around the stations in order to fully adapt to HSR requirements.

II. 4 Advantages of High-Speed Rails
In terms of investments, the best support will come from catalyzing private funding, the SPUR Report (2011) illustrates. The report also identifies seven major development opportunities determined by the high-speed rails. The following lines will be dedicated to elaborating on these social and economic opportunities.
1. High-speed rails bring communities closer together, by providing shorter travel time. The report explains that the cities are easier brought together, by transforming the sense of the transportation idea. Two far apart cities from one another become closer, as the traveling time shortens. In this context, bringing cities much closer together because of the high speed assured by HSR, from the social point of view, a major advantage is created. High-speed rail could develop the employment opportunities, enabling the possibility for people coming from a long distance to find a job in a faraway town, regardless of the distance. Therefore, this is a solution for enhancing the economy in countries (locations) where the HSR system is implemented.
2. HSR could determine the reborn of the existing downtowns.
As the high speed rail lines passes through many cities from its starting point to destination, this represent a possibility to revitalize these city centers. The SPUR Report take into consideration the fact that the investments in HSR attract other indirect investments in other industries and activity sectors. Although the high-speed rail alone could not create a major social and economic transformation, it remains a significant assets for the cities through which it passes.
3. High-speed rails should contribute to reducing the poverty and to developing the social equity. The SPUR Report sustains that the HSR should concur to facilitate new economic possibilities and to enhance the access to new employment opportunities. Moreover, the report states that the employment opportunities should be directly connected to HSR system (creating jobs for assuring the maintenance of the railway, for instance). Indirectly, HSR should help the poor regions by allowing the possibility of relocating firms or residents, permitting them to travel in the more developed areas for working, and spending their earned money in other industries, in the poor developed regions.
4. High-speed rail can support the development of high quality urban environments by designing satellite places that will contribute to the cities beautification. The report exposes that high-speed rail stations can improve the urban environment, both by exhibiting a great architecture for the train stations and by developing the surrounding areas. Nonetheless, because of its function, similar to airport design, the HSR stations also create parking lots, compromising the pedestrian areas. Therefore, although the high speed rail stations indirectly create an automobile agglomeration in its vicinity, it contributes greatly to the general reshape of the surrounding environment, reflecting the management of good urban place making.
5. High-speed rail offers the opportunity to better connect key destinations within cities and/or communities. In big cities, it is important for the passengers to reduce the distance between key destinations from within the cities, such as universities, airports, other job centers. Helping people to reach these points easily will reduce the traffic frustration generated by the automobile agglomeration, especially in the high-traffic periods.
6. High-speed rail contributes to the reduction of sprawl, if the exurban development is limited. The SPUR Report illustrates that HSR may have major regional consequences on growth. The high-speed rail system can contribute to the urban development, but, in the less urbanized areas, the HSR could jeopardize and seriously harm the air quality through its greenhouse gas emissions. This is why, the report recommends that the rail stations to be developed and set solely at the edges of the cities.
7. High-speed rail can contribute to meeting the environmental sustainability goals. Located in downtowns, the high-speed rail stations will not only make easy connections between cities that have implemented a HSR system and local transit lines, but it will also help facilitate non-auto travel throughout the state that developed the system. In consequence, by helping in reducing the CO2 emissions, the high-speed rails will also contribute to the diminution of air travel, a key contributor to climate change. (SPUR Report, 2011).

The Halcrow Group Limited organization also presents some of the benefits of high-speed rail transportation system. Among these benefits, the research mentions: efficiency gains and improved distribution, delivering a significant impact in business and economy efficiency, enabling labor mobility, contributing to land development and local investments, creating locational attractiveness, regenerating the social inclusion, helping to sustain the environmental causes. (2009).
The research provided by Halcrow Group Limited organization also refers to a reduction of regional inequalities, in a broader view. In a more specific context, the paper discusses about the benefits brought by agglomeration, meaning a geographical concentration or cluster of business and employees. Being closer to one another, the business can more easily interact, resulting in increased possibilities of partnerships, leading to strong economic developments.
Following another direction, it would be interesting for the development of this paper to better visualize the investors in the HSR systems. Depending on the countries, or economical spaces where these systems are introduced, there are various types of investors: public or private, or groups (such as European Commission in the EU countries). In the European Union this activity is called “Revitalizing the railways”, referring to introducing new competition in the railway industry and in the same time offering priority to public system to invest in the rail network. (De Rus, 2008).
The high-speed rails represent the fastest transportation system within the European cities. More and more persons who travel for business interest intensely prefer this transportation medium to the airplanes, not just because of their speed that reaches 320 km per hour, but also for additional advantages such as the short time for boarding (of only 10 minutes, including the security control). (International Herald Tribune).
When traveling by plane on short distances, the actual flight can represent only 20% from the total duration of the trip, the rest of the time being divided between the security control (or controls), waiting in the airport and for the actual boarding, which is translated in wasted time, for the business men. After conducting a series of researches, the President of Eurostar and in the same time, the Executive Director of SNCF, Guillame Pepy, reached the conclusion that people who travel for business interest are four times more inclined to travel by high speed rails than by plane because of their higher productivity, compared to plane travel. Moreover, for travel purposes other than the business interest, the passengers are disposed to travel by plane up to sic time more, than by plane. (De Rus, 2008).
From a financial perspective, a round trip London – Paris costs 450 sterling pounds, for the Business Premier class, with all the facilities included (waiting room, internet connection, food and drink, and for an additional fee a driver to take the passengers to their destination). The Select class supposes a boarding duration of 30 minutes, but it offers the same services as the Business Premier Class, and implies a cost starting with 109, and reaching 405 sterling pounds for a round trip London – Paris. The Standard class implies also a waiting time of 30 minutes for the boarding, being compared to the economic class of the plane travel, offering a bar-buffet and a ticket for a round trip London – Paris costs 59 sterling pounds.
II. 5 Disadvantages of High-Speed Rails De Rus illustrates that the HSR price indirectly affects the pricing of the standard transportation means. Moreover, not only the conventional transportation modes are affected by the introduction of HSR in new markets, but also many other markets in the economy. Therefore, the introduction of HSR in a specific market, indirectly affects the other transportation services (airways, automobile industry, classic trains, and so on), and other industries existent in the specific market: restaurants, hotels, and so on. (2008).
Peterman, Frittelli, Mallett (2009) observe that the introduction of HSR in specific countries (cities) improve the transportation modes, determining travelers to be more disposed to travel on ground, if they fear travelling by plane, or to drive themselves. Moreover, travelling with HSR also reduces the frustrations caused by bottlenecks or airline delays. However, at a closer analysis, the strong economic development of the big cities and the urban agglomeration in the well-developed regions come to jeopardize the stability of the less developed regions, leading to increased inequalities between the developed and the weak developed regions. Reducing the inequalities between different economic regions was the main principle and was sought as the main economic advantage created by HSR. But in fact, this leads to increasing the economic and social discrepancy, which also relates to people migrating from rural or poor cities to urban, well developed regions. Can the HSR really be responsible for an urban agglomeration in the cities where there are implemented high speed railways? Can HSR be responsible for rural depressions? For people migrating from rural to urban areas?
Around developed megacities, there are created core cluster businesses, or activities that attract large number of people, creating urban agglomerations. With the construction and functionality of high-speed rail stations, these areas tend to become even more crowded, as they will allow the job market mobility.
Another major disadvantage that is permanently argued is the pollution factor.
II. 6 Pollution
As pollutant sources caused by the railways transportation there can be mentioned: depositing and manipulating the oil products, depositing the coal, the uncontrolled storage of the waste, storage of the sleepers. The soil and the underground water form a relational physic system, so that when the soil is exposed to various pollutant aggression, so will be the aquatic layers. The noise can produce direct reactions to years and to entire organism. The intensity of the disorders produced by the noise is direct related to its intensity, frequency, and duration. The noise can cause the affection of circulatory functions, gastric neurosis, insomnia, etc. The traumatism provoked by the noise also refer to the breakage of the tympanum, dislocation of the bone system from the medium ear, and the damage of the Corti organ, etc. Around a high speed rail there is developing a complex turbulent airflow, which will meet various structural elements. (Chester and Horvath, 2010)
Regarding the pollution, other researches expose the fact that HSR represent a major benefit in this context, because it uses less energy and is less polluting than other transportation alternatives. The high-speed rail does not generate carbon emissions, compared to automobile traffic and airway travel. Moreover, considering the carbon emissions of building and maintaining the transportation infrastructure, the balance seems to incline more in favor of high-speed rail. (Peterman, Frittelli, Mallett, 2009).
Regarding HSR’s environmental impact, recent studies spin around arguing if this transportation solution is sustainable or not, in terms of protecting the environment. However, the singular modality to calculate the environmental impact that the high speed rails are producing is to measure and compare it against the other transportation modes, the air or highway traffic. Nonetheless, Chester and Horvath (2010) explain that the environmental impact does not solely rises from the operation of a transportation mode. There are other aspects that need to be considered when calculating the pollutant factors of a transportation mode, such as building and maintaining the infrastructure, producing fuels, creating the actual vehicles, and disposing the materials (recycling or separating them for reintegrating them into new products) after the end of their first life cycle.
The concept of product life cycle is defined as the totality of inputs and outputs between the environment and the totality of processes that a product endures during its lifetime. A common lifetime of a product is defined by the following phases: pre-production, production, distribution, use, and disposal. Each of this aspect must be considered from the design phase, in order to ensure smooth operations throughout the vehicle life cycle. For the effectiveness of the investment, it is recommended that the materials employed in a production cycle to be as resistant and as long lasting as possible. (Vezzoli, Manzini, 2010)
Chester and Horvath investigate the life cycle of the high-speed rails in comparison with other transportation means. They take into consideration the environmental costs of cars which vary depending on the drive cycles, age, and technology used for designing it, and the composition of the fleet. Another aspect that the researchers consider in their study, which is also significant for the present research, is the ridership, the occupancy of a specific transportation mode. In other words, although it may be hard to predict, or to analyze the specific occupancy of a specific transportation mode, it can easily be noticed that the highway transportation (the automobiles) consume more CO2 for a smaller percentage of persons transported, compared to high-speed rails, or other trains, even airplanes. Chester and Horvath refer to this aspect as the “emission per passenger – kilometer” (2010, p. 26).
Reaching these point, there must also be considered the quality of the materials that the vehicles are designed from, and what is their impact upon the environment, when interacting with various factors, such as sun light, or sky light, for instance. Lately, environmentalists have illustrated a major concern for the light pollution phenomenon and the effects that it can create upon buildings, pedestrians, motorists, flora, fauna, upon the entire environment, overall. There are several forms of light pollution, such as the glare, the sky glow, light spills, or the light trespass.
The glare is a very upsetting phenomenon, which is produced because of the improper distribution of light, and because the light sources interacts with various objects, with reflecting or retracting surface, distributing the light into the street, causing an immediate visual discomfort, which can differ in intensity, reaching at the partial blinding. In this phase, pedestrians and motorists can be easily involved in accidents. This phenomenon is produced during daytime, because of the interaction of the natural light source (sky or sun) with transparent of reflecting surfaces, but it can also be produced during nighttime. In this context, the artificial lighting, produced by public lighting, headlamps or headlights can come in great contrast with the poor visibility or the dark of the night, causing, again, unpleasant consequences to pedestrians and drivers. Moreover, flora and fauna are also affected about the light pollution.
The city lights (mostly the artificial ones, coming from the light sources during the nighttime), seriously impacts the flora and fauna, and the quality of life. Forming a sky glow phenomenon over the cities with high traffic, high agglomeration and intense industrialization affects and jeopardize entire ecosystems. The sky glow phenomenon is an inverse effect of the direct glow. While natural light sources reflect on objects, creating glare, the unnatural, artificial lighting sources emit illumination towards the sky. A big part of the exterior light is sky warded, therefore, lost. The sky becomes the mirror of the artificial outdoor lighting sources, just as, by daytime, the reflective materials become the image of the sun and sky.
The sky glow has become an urban phenomenon, generated from light pollution. It is important to understand what determines it, because it is a very dangerous phenomenon, harmful for entire ecosystems. Light Pollution disrupts natural patterns of light and dark. It changes animal behaviors (confuses navigation, alters competition & predator- prey interactions) and adversely affects physiology and reproduction. Light Pollution contributes to lower water quality by preventing zooplankton from feeding on algae, which grow more in light. (Roaf, Roaf, Crichton, Nicol, 2009).
In the crowded or industrial towns, where the traffic is heavy and the industrial and commercial activities are also intense, there outdoor illumination by nighttime is common and highly utilized. This leads to a decrease in the healthy vegetation, as well as to a diminishing of the quality of life, in general. Not having the proper light, the good light, as stated above, it becomes more difficult for the flora, fauna, and humans to enjoy a healthy environment, and to properly develop.

The consequences that the artificial light can produce to the environment, to the quality of life, to flora and fauna are much more serious in the urban areas than in the rural ones, because the intense industrialization and commercialization from the urban context require a much higher energy consumption that the rural areas.
The artificial lighting is an energy source, which is decreasing more rapidly than it is renewing. Moreover, the artificial lighting is utilized abusively, which leads to light spills, light trespasses, or glare pollution. All these forms of light pollution are very harmful for the environment and for the humans’ life quality.
After analyzing this information about the forms of light pollution there should be introduced a relevant connection between this form of pollution and the high speed rails. In fact, the purpose of this subchapter was to compare the environmental impact of all the other transportation modes with the one produced by high-speed rails. For this reason, the proponent of this research will further try to identify how does high speed rails create light pollution and how (much) light pollution are the other transportation mode causing.
As stated previously, a starting point for this analysis would be to identify the materials used to conceive the vehicles and the infrastructure. First, there will be analyzed these components in the HSR system. There are not many studies dedicated to studying how high speed rail leads to light pollution. However, knowing the principles of how light pollution is generated, there can be stated that the high-speed rails are creating glare during daytime, in the sunny regions, because of the direct interaction between the sun or sky light and the shiny surface of these modern trains, either their windows, or their reflecting exterior materials. In contact with these surfaces, the light is spread both inside the trains, causing disturbance for the passengers, but also, mostly outside, and causing annoyance on the pedestrians and on the drivers.
Moreover, as stated above, a strong light, distributed incorrectly can create a moment of blindness, resulting in unwanted incidents. During nighttime, the high-speed rails employ artificial light. Together with all the other traffic light beams, it contributes to the light spills, which causes the sky glow. As presented earlier, the sky glow phenomenon is mostly predominant in the urban regions, mostly in the agglomerated ones.
Chapter III – Methodology
This chapter is dedicated to presenting the research design employed for running this analysis. Briefly, the methodology used was a qualitative one, based on gathering data from different researches and reports. There were investigated corporate or academic reports, found on the Internet and on libraries.
Although the proponent of this study solely used already published literature, the importance of this study does not decrease, because it aims to answer original questions. For a better visibility, this would be a good moment to re-state the research questions: is HSR really needed? Can people afford HSR? What are the advantages and the disadvantages of HSR? Is it an economical transportation solution? Moreover, from the beginning of the paper, this study developed a new research question, which was not initially considered: what is the HSR’s environmental impact?
Chapter IV – Findings
This chapter will first refer to the economic aspects. Reported to the secondary markets, De Rus (2008) illustrates that the HSR may lead to the concentration of economic activities in the urban areas. However, in the case of HSR investment, scholars advise that one should not worry about the wider economic benefits (wherein all the industrial sectors should keep up with this economic and technological development). (Puga, 200; Duranton and Puga, 2000; Vickerman, 1995, 2006, Vives, 2006, in De Rus, 2008). The authors sustain that there are not expected major additional benefits in the case of high speed railway infrastructure, because the freight transport does not benefit from high speed, leaving the industries from these locations not affected by this type of technology.
Throughout the paper, researchers have argued in contradictory about HSR’s role in contributing to the dynamic of the rural regions. The fact that the HSR are mainly functional in the urban localities (the stations are built in these regions) are considered to be discriminatory investments for the rural regions. Investing both in HSR and in other transport infrastructures is a solution for reducing the regional inequalities. Therefore, EU has dedicated European funds for reducing the regional inequalities. (De Rus, 2009).
Although there is a competition relation between the airplanes network and the rail network, there is also a coordination and collaboration between these two transportation services. In the main European airports there are standard connections with the nearby high speed train stations. (Chester and Horvath, 2010).
Mostly in the high-speed rails’ case, where the investments are very high, it is a requirement that the materials used in producing the vehicles or the infrastructure should be long lasting. However, the environmentalists warn that long lasting materials could be harming for the environment, as they are losing the quality of their properties in time and although there are still functional and maybe still safe for the users, they are unsafe for the environment.
Another aspect that should be considered when measuring the environmental sustainability of high-speed rails is the accessibility of the disassembly process. When a vehicle reaches the end of its first life cycle, its components should be disassembled in order to select the jeopardized ones from the ones that can still be used, and reintroduced in a new vehicle. Like this, there is a life span continuity of the resources that can continue a new life cycle within a new vehicle.
As an indirect effect, from what was presented earlier in this paper, high-speed rails can influence the sky glow. Since earlier it was illustrated how the HSR leads (indirectly) to people leaving the rural regions for working in the urban ones, this creates the urban agglomeration, with an intense industrialization, and commercialization. Where these activities are developed, the artificial light is mandatory for properly developing business. In terms of light consumption, Chester and Horvath (2010) calculate the energy consumption attributed to each passenger of different transportation modes. This is yet another possibility of calculating the light pollution (through the energy losses). The authors compared the transportation modes, analyzing 30 different on-road, rail, and air transportation means, from small cars to large aircrafts. The authors took into consideration 79 unique life cycle components from manufacturing to operating, including infrastructure and maintenance, plus producing fuel. Some of the result retrieved from this study illustrate that the light emission coming from rail systems in 90 percent occupancy compares favorably with any other transportation mode, in terms of operation. On the other hand, when analyzing the light consumption used for building the infrastructure and producing fuel, the rail light consumption doubles its employed resources. The authors assume that the light rail system is less environmentally sustainable than the gasoline sedan with a singular driver. (2010).
Throughout the paper there were presented the advantages and the disadvantages of this modern transportation mode. The high-speed rail creates another sense for traveling, bringing people, business, communities, and cities faster closer together. Because of this, there are created more working opportunities, since people have the possibility of travelling with this fast transportation service from very far apart countries, having the possibility to easily get back to their homes, after work. This traveling system also allows an easy and stress less solution for transportation within the same city, if the high-speed rail passes through a megacity, having a few stops within that city. This is an efficient solution for avoiding the harsh automobile traffic.
On the other hand, the HSR is criticized by specialists and considered not a feasible solution in terms of investment, as the duration of returning the investment is high, and the initial investments generally cannot be covered from the ticket price. There are also critics who sustain that HSR are not pro-environmental oriented, since, as saw in this paper, it contributes to various forms of pollution, and consuming significant amounts of non-renewable energy. It also creates a visible discrepancy between the rural and the urban regions, or between the poor cities and the developed ones, leading to rural exodus.
Chapter V – Conclusion
Between a trend and a transportation need, adapted to this fast-moving world, the high-speed rails create various debates regarding their economic feasibility, their discriminatory consequences towards the rural areas, their environmental orientation, to name a few social and economic concerns. This paper, although non-exhaustive, offered some information about the advantages and the disadvantages of the high-speed rails, of the costs involved in implementing such a transportation system, and other social aspects, like: the cost of the ticket, the modifications of the urban plans, so on.
After studying various perspectives and analyzed different contexts, there can be concluded that from a socio-economic, and even urbanity point of view, there are still many cities, many countries that are not prepared for adopting this transportation system. Considering the environmental perspective and the energy consumption involved in operating the HSR, it may seem that it is not recommended the rapid development of this system, at least not until renewable energy sources will be identified. Therefore, it remains the question that could be developed within a new paper: What will be the impact of HSR in the future on the environment, and how will HSR develop?

References
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