Analysis of the inter-modal competition between high-speed rail and motorway: the Galician case

Abstract

High speed rail (HSR) had its beginning back in the sixties, its demand has been growing since nowadays and the capacity that has to attract new users from other means of transport plays a key role in it. The purpose of this study is to analyze the inter-modal competition between HSR and motorways by testing the impact of HSR on the average vehicle per day captured by traffic stations on motorways. The route of interest is mid-distance journeys, below 400km, where is said that HSR is more competitive against motorways. We employed the Synthetic Control Method (SCM) and we have focused on two different routes from the Galician transport infrastructure, which provides an appropriate setting for a quasi-experimental method. Results from the first analyzed route reveal a non-significant reduction in traffic after HSR was firstly introduced in the region. Conversely, results from the second analyzed route show an overall increase in traffic after HSR was launched four years later from its opening in the region.