International Symposium on
‘‘HSR Impacts and Regional Development Strategy’’
Seoul, Monday 23 March 2015
HSR and regional development
strategies in France
Vincent Benezech
International Transport Forum at OECD
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Introduction
• French HSR has had many positive impacts on mobility and
economic development
• But impacts are not evenly distributed and planning is
often done with unrealistic expectations
• Presentation outline:
– Overview of the French HSR system
– Expected and observed effects of HSR
– Planning and financing HSR in France
• Focusing on some specificities of the French case
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Overview of the French HSR
system
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The French HSR network
• First line open in 1981
• World speed record
• Currently:
– 2000 kms of HSR
– 750 kms opening in 2017
– 54 billion pkms in 2012
• Out of 89.1 rail pkms
Source: Julie Perrin
• Organised around Paris
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Organisation of the HSR system
RFF
(SNCF Réseau)
SNCF
(SNCF Mobilité)
Planner
Main (sole) operator
1 600 employees
155 000 employees
French State
Local
government
Rail
regulator
…
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Services extend beyond HSR network
Source: Julie Perrin
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Services extend beyond HSR network
Source: Julie Perrin
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Services extend beyond HSR network
• Strong penetration of HSR in France with limited
expansion of HSR network
– HSR even in ‘remote’ areas where HSR would not otherwise be
justified
• Commercial success in many cases
• National audit agency: HSR extensions not relevant
anymore
– HSR trains spend 40% of their time outside of the HSR network
– A strain on the finances of the HSR operator
– At the expense of regional rail
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But a lot of new HSR stations are built
outside of cities
• Compromise between
operational speed and
regional traffic
• HSR on conventional
network only to expand
HSR services further
• Limited connectivity
with other public modes
of transport
• Strategy now evolving
Source: Soulié et Tricoire (2002)
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HSR services are a commercial product
• The rail operator is state-owned…
– No competition on national lines
– Large subsidies for regional and conventional long-distance rail
• … but HSR services are designed as a commercial
product
– HSR services need to be profitable for SNCF
Million euros per billion pkm
– But getting less and less so…
Revenues/traffic ratio
Source: Cours des comptes
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HSR services are a commercial product
• SNCF operates complex yield-management and discount
card system
– Close to monopolistic pricing
– « Mobility for everyone »
– Development of low-cost services
• Load factors are high
– Around 70% for HSR services in France
– Compared to about 50% in Germany for instance
• But operational margin is not higher than in Germany
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Expected and observed
impacts of HSR
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Socio-economic indicators
• HSR lines are not financially viable
• They make sense from a socio-economic point of view
but their traffic/impact is always over-estimated
Ex-ante
Ex-post
South-East
28.0
-
Atlantic
23.6
14.0
North-Europe
20.3
5.0
Paris connections
18.5
15.0
Mediterrannean
12.2
8.1
Source:Cours des Comptes
HSR line
Socio-economic internal rate of return for selected HSR projects
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Impacts on mobility
• The French experience reinforces the evidence on the
zone of relevance of HSR
– Between 1 and 3 hours of travel time
– Between large, dynamic urban centres
• Strong competitor with air
• But this does not translate into reductions in CO2
emissions
– Construction costs too CO2 intensive
– HSR services outside of HSR network not full enough
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HSR stations in city centers …
• Reinforcement of strong regional metropolises
- Ambitious and often successful
urban renewal plans
- HSR reinforces the image of
the city as a dynamic center of
activity
- But no evidence of
direct/wider economic benefits
Source: Wikipedia
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… and HSR stations outside of city centers
• Compromise between operational speed and local
stakeholders’ wishes
• Can be a success in terms of traffic
– If accessible, connected to the conventional rail network
– When customer base is present (dynamic economic region,
tourism…)
• But to the detriment of historical rail stations which see
less train services
– Some neighbourhoods of historical stations witness closure of
shops
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… and HSR stations outside of city centers
• Against local government’s desire, no systematic
development around stations
– The worst case: the project does not materialise
– The best case: local companies relocate close to HSR
– Survey of companies in rural areas: HSR not the main driver
behind location choice
Source: Agence Duthilleul
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Planning and financing HSR in
France
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Overview
• First HSR line
– French State in coordination with SNCF
– Link large cities with few intermediate stops
• The rail infrastructure manager cannot take up bad
debts
– Only finance up to the amount of expected rail toll returns over
the duration of the project (50 years)
– Limited power over planning decisions
• With « regionalisation »
– Multiple local, national and supra-national stakeholders
– Very diverse objectives
• Recently, return of centralised planning (Mobilité 21
committee)
– But some projects still go ahead even if deemed not relevant
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Consequences
• Financing is made against guarantees for services
– For accessibility and attractivity for local authorities
– To maintain revenue levels in case of RFF/PPPs
• Result in unrealistic objectives
– Service guarantees are very long-term and expand beyond the
scope of projects
– Competition between efficient long-distance journeys and local
development
• Competition between local stakeholders
– For levels of services
– For location of stations
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Example: East line
M€
Stakeholder
French state
680
Local
government
640
RFF
532
Europe
118
Luxembourg
40
Source: Réseau Ferré de France
Source: Réseau Ferré de France
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Example: East line
Metz
Lorraine TGV station
Source: Google Maps
Nancy
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Conclusion - impacts
• HSR can have a deep impact on
– Mobility, accessibility to regions
– Economic development of already developed areas
• But no observed structural effects of HSR
– Depends on the supply of enough services, connection with
conventional rail
– Need of cooperation between local authorities involved
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Conclusion - planning
• HSR is extremely popular among local authorities (« Effet
TGV ») and French people
• Inventive financing transforms HSR planning into a
bargaining exercise
• Groing awareness about the need for inter-modality and
collaboration between stakeholders
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Further reading
• In English
– The Economics of Investment in High-Speed Rail. ITF Roundtables,
155, 2014.
– Bazin et al (2011) High-speed rail service and socio-economic
transformation in local areas, a review. Presented at the 90th Annual
meeting of the TRB.
• In French
– La grande vitesse ferroviaire, un modèle porté au-delà de sa
pertinence. Rapport de la Cour des Comptes, 2014.
– Troin (2010) Désirs de gares TGV : du projet des édiles locaux au
‘désaménagement’ du territoire. Belgeo, 1-2.