The Benefits of Building High Speed Rail Stations at Airports

Paige Malott
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Paige Malott: San José State University

A chapter in Socioeconomic Impacts of High-Speed Rail Systems, 2023, pp 81-88 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract In North America, the Cascadia megaregion has reached a tipping point where expanding its mobility choices to include high speed rail is critical to plan for long-term growth and address large-scale challenges such as climate change. The Cascadia megaregion is located in the Pacific Northwest, which includes British Columbia in Canada, and Washington and Oregon in the United States. The three major cities in this geographic area are Vancouver, British Columbia, Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. The Cascadia megaregion is forecast to grow by 3.6 million people by 2050; (Cascadia Innovation Corridor. Cascadia Vision 2050. p. 14. https://connectcascadia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Cascadia-Vision-2050_Published.pdf [1]) three times the size of the current population. Regional growth plans only account for 2.3 million of those people, leaving a gap of 1.3 million people unaccounted for where they will live and work, as well as adding further demand on the region’s strained transportation network. Additionally, a study on regional growth in aviation (Puget Sound Regional Council. 2050 Forecasts for Aviation Demand. (2019). www.psrc.org/sites/default/files/rabs-2019jul16-aviationstudyforecasts_0.pdf [2]) found that SeaTac Airport in Seattle, Washington, will exhaust all expansions by 2027 and still be over capacity by three million passengers annually. Decision-makers are exploring building an additional airport to meet demand. Meanwhile, 60% of the region’s carbon emissions (City of Seattle. Understanding Our Emissions—Environment. (2021). www.seattle.gov/environment/climate-change/climate-planning/performance-monitoring [3]) come from passenger transportation. Legislators have set a goal to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050 in alignment with the Paris Climate Accord. On its current trajectory, Cascadia will miss this goal and only decrease emissions by 20–30% (Cascadia Innovation Corridor. Cascadia Vision 2050. p. 12. https://connectcascadia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Cascadia-Vision-2050_Published.pdf [4]) without a game-changing investment in fast, high-capacity, clean-energy transportation, such as high speed rail. This case study examines the economic, mobility, and climate benefits of building high speed rail at airports, and recommends how collaboration between aviation and high speed rail can improve outcomes for the Cascadia megaregion.

Keywords: High speed rail; Intercity rail at airports; Growth planning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-26340-8_5

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