3rd international workshop on High-Speed Rail socio-economic impacts successfully held on 12 and 13 September 2023

Within the context of the UIC Alliance of Universities, a global academic network established in 2015 under the aegis of UIC for the development of high-speed rail, the third International Workshop on High-Speed Rail Socioeconomic Impacts was held successfully online on 12 and 13 September 2023.

Chaired by Prof. Francesca Pagliara, member of the Alliance and Professor at the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering of the University of Naples Federico II, together with the UIC team led by Philippe Lorand, Senior Advisor for High-Speed Rail, the workshop was attended by around 100 participants from across the sector including experts and railway representatives from across the world, UIC, and high-level institutions.

Following the success of the last two editions:
https://uic.org/events/2nd-international-workshop-on-high-speed-rail-socioeconomic-impacts and https://uic.org/events/https-uic-org-events-1st-international-workshop-on-high-speed-rail-socioeconomic-impacts

UIC has decided to support this initiative to be organised annually by the University of Naples Federico II. The aim of this workshop is to explore recent research on the analysis and quantification of the effects, both on economy and on society, of investments in HSR systems.

The six-session programme over one-and-a-half days gave participants the opportunity to learn and exchange on recent research on HSR around the world – where high-speed is a reality, in the pipeline or a work in progress and to quantify its socio-economic impacts.

The workshop’s opening remarks were delivered by a number of leading figures in the sector, notably:

Moderator Prof. Francesca Pagliara (Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Italy)
Prof. Francesco Pirozzi (Head of the Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering, University of Naples Federico II, Italy – unable to attend)
Mr Philippe Lorand (Senior Advisor High-Speed Rail, UIC)
Prof. Dewei Li (Prof. of Railway operation and management, Beijing Jiaotong University and President of the UIC Alliance of Universities)
Prof. Paul Plummer (Professor of Railway Strategy, University of Birmingham, UK and Vice-President of the UIC Alliance of Universities)
Mr Rogier Vergouwen (Chairman of the High-speed Rail Netherlands Foundation, Owner of Laurier Management & Advisory Firm)
Ms. Sharon Greene (Managing Partner, InfraStrategies LLC, USA)

On the first day, the workshop was enriched by the keynote presentation given by Mrs Dorien Rookmaker, Member of the European Parliament, on: What keeps us moving in High-Speed? Mrs Rookmaker looked at the concept of innovation, how it is necessary for the development of the political and sector mentality and working together for the end customer, as well as bridging the gaps between politicians and citizens.

The first day looked at the impacts of HSR on the environment and featured case studies on the quality of life on communities, the climate impact of aviation, and the impact of HSR compared to other transport modes in a sustainable assessment.

During the session on competition, integration and inclusion, case studies looked at the impacts of HSR on regional inclusion, how HSR services could generate social and economic benefits, as well as increase regional economic integration.
Speakers came from railway companies, the rail industry, and from universities based in Italy, Belgium, the Czech Republic, the UK, and the USA.

The impacts of HSR on the land use system as well as the investments in HSR, and the relationship between HSR and tourism were dealt with during the sessions.
Case studies included the effects of HSR on urban development, public-private partnerships and evaluation of economic benefits.
Speakers represented universities, organisations and the railways across Europe, North America and Asia.

The second day was enriched by the keynote by Prof. Junyi Zhang from the Southeast University in China on The role of high-speed railway in Japan’s interregional transportation system. The concept of Urbanimmunology was highlighted, i.e. how our cities can resist external shocks which are becoming more evident today.

Case studies included the effects of HSR on demographics and urban development, public-private partnerships and evaluation of economic benefits, the link between HSR and the demand in tourism and how HSR has boosted tourism.
Speakers represented universities, organisations and the railways across Europe, North America and Asia.

During the closing remarks session, the Best Paper Award was announced by Prof. Francesca Pagliara and Mr KE Seetha Ram (Asian Development Bank Institute), for the best 1000-word paper. This award was assigned to an early career scholar for the paper on high-speed rail in cultural urban development.

The workshop’s closing remark session was delivered by Mr Michel Leboeuf, Honorary Chairman of the Intercity & High-Speed Committee, UIC. Mr Leboeuf thanked all the speakers and chairpersons and congratulated Francesca Pagliara personally for this interesting seminar.

Mr Leboeuf highlighted the main points that were raised during the two-day workshop regarding the development of HSR and transport policies across the world. He underlined the need to focus on methodological aspects and to pay attention to the trend towards more holistic approaches. He said that this international workshop, through the different case studies worldwide and through knowledge-sharing, could be seen as a contribution in this perspective.

Mr Michel Leboeuf agreed with the point made at the beginning of the workshop by Mrs Dorien Rookmaker in answer to the question: “What keeps us moving in high-speed rail?” He underlined that the important message is innovation and particularly political innovation, which in Europe is reflected in the strong willingness to link all the European capitals with HSR services. The future of HSR is strongly linked to its ability to innovate in all domains whether they are about construction, operations, resilience, safety, reliability, security, and more globally social and environmental sustainability.

He remained convinced that this kind of workshop helps to understand the dynamics of high-speed rail in the human and natural community and paves the way for innovation.

Philippe Lorand, Senior Advisor for High-Speed Rail, and Prof. Pagliara from the University of Naples Federico II, closed the event by thanking everyone for their participation and contribution. Mr Lorand expressed how proud he was of the workshop and of the quality of the papers.
Prof. Pagliara added that the community is growing every year and underlined the importance of staying connected. She thanked everyone for their participation and agreed that even though there is still much work to be done in this area, UIC is the right forum for a global workshop of this kind, with international collaboration within the Alliance being essential to shaping the industry together and achieving an efficient, operational high-speed system.

The papers from the workshop will be published. More information about this will be communicated soon.