Heathrow and high-speed rail pt 5 - the international experience

He notes that there are 70 cities linked to the high-speed rail station at Paris Charles de Gaulle and its catchment area has been gradually growing - although it is a rail hub in its own right. In 2007 there were 3.5 million passengers at the station and growth has been 5-10% a year. As he points out: "Air France is contemplating being a train operator."

He's backed up by Paul Le Blond, a consultant for the International Air Rail Organisation (IARO). He examines the routes from Paris to Brussels, Lyon and London since they've been served by high-speed rail. To Brussels, 1h 23min away,  there are now "virtually no flights"; to Lyon, at 2hr, there are still seven Air France flights per day; and to London, 2hr 15min away, there are 32 flights.

Le Blond looks also at markets in Germany, the Netherlands, Japan and the USA. Frankfurt-Cologne is an hour by train and there are now no flights (down from four daily last year.) Frankfurt-Stuttgart is 1hr 10min and there are still five flights.

From Amsterdam - "one of the best-integrated rail stations" and where a high-speed line will open next year - six flights still serve Brussels 1hr 44min away by train, and there are 15 flights to Paris 3hr 44min away. As he says it will be very interesting to see what happens from next year.

On the Tokyo-Osaka route in Japan there is a huge number of trains each day and a huge number of flights - often in those nose-to-tail economy-class 747s.

And on the New York-Washington DC corridor, the USA's less than optimum rail system provides 15 trains per day taking 2hr 50min. while there are still "over 150 flights per day" between the assorted airports.

In short, says Le Blond: "There is no clear rule about rail journey time and market share. It is very variable. High-speed stations at airports are not essential for high-speed rail to work"