Local development impact assessment for a high speed rail system: a Taiwan study

Abstract

The Taiwan high speed rail (HSR) system has been in commercial operation since January 2007. Based on the experience of previous freeway development in the area, HSR has the potential to significantly influence local development in western Taiwan. This study focused on the impact of the Taiwan HSR system on local development. Simultaneous equation modeling was applied to analyze the associations among development sectors, and is calibrated using samples of 323 villages, towns or cities in Taiwan. The calibrated model is used as a basis for analyzing and discussing the influences of improving accessibility, increasing land supply for urban development, and various other strategies related to the HSR system. This work reached the following conclusions: improving accessibility and increasing urban development land supply influences local population and employment distributions; improving connections between HSR stations and the central city benefits the development of the central city rather than HSR station area; improving connections between HSR stations and individual districts within the metropolitan area increases the HSR service area and balances development among districts, and promoting station area development projects contributes significantly to local development.