International High Speed Rail - PF Debate Septober Topic Info

^^Highlighted in BLUE is notes for potential insight on stock cases^^

Be careful when writing a case to make sure international cross-application is defended!

==France==

  • First country to build HSR — approved in 1974 — TGV
  • Expanded over a long time 15 years from first planning to completion

Goal: Connect Paris to other French cities

  • ^^Announced 6.5 billion dollars in investment in 2021^^
  • Set the stage for international HSR
  • Lots of other HSR off French technology
    • Eurostar: Private company that connects France to other European countries
    • Europe wants to double HSR use by 2030 and triple by 2040
    • French TGV carries 110 million passengers a year
    • 4th largest system
    • ^^Owned 100% by the French government^^
  • ^^HSR in France boosts the tourist industry^^
    • Billions of dollars a year
    • 9 dollar train ride

==Spain==

  • Completed in 1992
  • Spanish HSR was initially operated by a private company
    • Renfe has continued to expand lines
  • Fastest growing HSR internationally
    • ^^Not all the stops are major cities^^
    • ^^BUT the US has a lot more major cities & they’re more spread apart^^
  • Carries 22.4 million passengers a year
    • figure has been growing 5% a year (great success)
  • Environmental benefits:
    • Airport traffic has reduced across the country, 25% in the Seville airport

Costs:

  • Spain’s HSR has ^^hiked ticket costs^^ and priced-out cheaper train lines
    • As a result, harder for lower-income workers to ride trains, ^^forcing them to switch back to cars^^
    • ^^Built in predominantly wealthy areas^^ to ensure funding, resulting in less economic benefits to lower-income consumers

==Japan==

  • First HSR in 1964, linking Tokyo to Osaka
  • They built HSR in 1964, but we built highways (car culture)
  • Deemed as one of the most successful rail lines globally
  • “Demand oriented” — gets its profit by getting so many riders
    • Japan’s is largely passenger, but other countries are largely freight
    • Japan uses public transportation more in general (already ready to ride trains all the time)
  • 100k people per day, 6.2 million passengers total
    • In the last 60 years none of them have died
  • Shinkansen cost 30 billion euros, collects 6.7 billion annually
  • ^^Pays back its construction cost^^
  • Japan followed a federal/local system
    • Gov’t paid for ⅔ of the construction cost, everything else was paid for by the local governments
  • Deficit funding — thru taking out loans
    • 1960s, 70s, all the way into 2000s, Japan was taking out loans

Benefits:

Agglomeration

  • As the guardian put it recently, the bullet train has made “an increasingly huge part of the country little more than a bedroom community for the capital”

Tourism

  • Tightly interconnected hubs have made traveling between cities easier, increasing tourism.

Small businesses

  • High speed rail leveled the playing field, allowing even small firms to make deals with faraway suppliers

Japan’s rail network allowed lower-wage workers to access ex-urban areas where housing development is less expensive

  • While areas close to stations experienced price increases, in general, prefectures linked by rail were more affordable than they would have been without rail

Costs:

  • Made Japan's economy grind to a halt bc it was so close together (1991)
    • When they were able to build it more efficiently means it got better
    • Building over time means it gets better
  • INR took up so much debt, that it accounts for thirty percent of the nations federal debt
  • Japan passed laws to discourage rural development and incentivize people to move to urban areas with train hubs. This caused land and housing prices in Japan to appreciate to 4x the cost of land in the US, creating long-term damage to the economy

==China==

Started large scale investment in 2008

  • 2600 km of track
  • Domestic companies that have developed into world leaders in high-speed train technology and engineering, thanks to the astonishing expansion of their home network
  • Centralized state funding, planning and approval allowed China to avoid the endless legal wrangles that have hung up projects in Europe and the US for decades
    • There is no eminent domain in China, eliminating an issue that the US would have had
  • The Chinese network has been built at only two-thirds the average cost in other countries, and the economic rate of return is positive
    • This breaks down to about 21 million dollars per km of track
  • Chinese HSR lines account for 65% of global HSR mileage

Benefits:

  • Foreign diplomacy — uses it to work on other HSR in other countries
    • “Building a domestic industry in the US allows us to do it globally, fighting cn)
  • Tourism — 20% increase
  • Military setting
    • Started to build HSR for transporting missiles + launch equipment

Costs:

  • 60% of HSR operators in the countries reported a loss of 100mil dollars
    • As a result, interest payments on the debt accrued from HSR operation and construction has been eclipsing the revenue HAR lines produce
    • China halted the construction of two new lines precisely because of resign debt costs (you can use for neg)
  • Brain drain: Chinese HSR has been primarily concentrated in the East, sapping investment and high-skill labor away from the more rural western areas.
    • A study published in the journal Geographical Research the researchers said each high-speed rail station in western activity China corresponded to a more than 1.5% drop in local economic activities
  • Most new HSR lines in China have witnessed a sharp decline in their transportation density, meaning that the numbers of riders per year has slowly been declining. (Discrepancy)