Analyzing the Potential for High-speed Rail as Part of the Multimodal Transportation System in the United States' Midwest Corridor

Abstract

With increasing demand and rising fuel costs, both travel time and cost of current intercity passenger transportation modes are becoming increasingly relevant. Around the world, highspeed rail (HSR) is seen as a way to alleviate demand on highways and at airports. Ridership is the critical element in determining the viability of a large capital, long-term transportation investment. This paper provides a systematic, consistent methodology for analyzing systemwide modal ridership with and without a proposed HSR network and analyzes the potential for highspeed rail as part of the existing multimodal transportation system in a region in terms of ridership. Considerations of capital investment (e.g., network design and HSR speed), along with exogenous demographic, technological, economic, and policy trends in the long-term, are used to project ridership over time. This study represents an important step toward a consistent, comprehensive economic analysis of HSR in the United States.