High-speed rail and air passenger transport: A comparison of the operational environmental performance

Abstract

This paper presents an overview of the environmental performance of high-speed rail (HSR) and air passenger transport (APT) in the European Union (EU). This performance embraces the direct environmental burdens/emissions such as energy consumption, air pollution, noise, land-take and land use, safety and congestion. A comparison of the marginal values of particular burdens/emissions and their costs (externalities) is carried out. The results have shown that significant mitigation of the impacts and savings of costs could be achieved by substitution of air passenger transport by high-speed rail. The substitution can be carried out through competition and complementarity of operations of both modes.