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The Full Cost of High-Speed Rail: An Engineering Approach

Author

Listed:
  • David Levinson

    (Nexus (Networks, Economics, and Urban Systems) Research Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota)

  • Jean-Michel Mathieu
  • Adib Kanafani
  • David Gillen

Abstract

This paper examines the full costs, defined as the sum of private and social costs, of a high speed rail system proposed for a corridor connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco in California. The full costs include infrastructure, fleet capital and operating expenses, the time users spend on the system, and the social costs of externalities, such as noise, pollution, and accidents. Comparing these full costs to those of other competing modes contributes to the evaluation of the feasibility of high speed rail in the corridor. The paper concludes that high speed rail is significantly more costly than expanding existing air service, and marginally more expensive than auto travel. This suggests that high speed rail is better positioned to serve shorter distance markets where it competes with auto travel than longer distance markets where it substitutes for air.

Suggested Citation

  • David Levinson & Jean-Michel Mathieu & Adib Kanafani & David Gillen, 1997. "The Full Cost of High-Speed Rail: An Engineering Approach," Working Papers 199705, University of Minnesota: Nexus Research Group.
    • Handle: RePEc:nex:wpaper:highspeedrail
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/11299/179854
    File Function: First version, 2007
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    JEL classification:

    • R40 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - General
    • R42 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government and Private Investment Analysis; Road Maintenance; Transportation Planning
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies

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