Monday 21 September 2009

High Speed Rail

High Speed Rail is a type of rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal railway: usually at 200 km/h or higher speed.
Generally, High Speed Rail is considered is a profitable transport system due to numerous advantages. Among them are:

- High Speed Rail can operate at non-stop system and run frequently, which is attractive to businessmen who may account for the large part of market for such trains.
- High Speed Rail trains can also operate locally and connect city centres, which is often impossible for airplanes
- The capacity of such trains is high which make them more efficient, some engineers argue that trains are 3 times more energy-efficient that aircrafts
- Lower energy consumption as well as reduced land usage compared to other means of transportation make High Speed Rail more environmentally friendly
-High Speed Rail reduces congestion and provides means of trasportation for countries with growing population as well as providing employment.
-In contrast to airplanes, WiFi and phone networks are available on such trains which is again attractive for potential consumers
-High Speed Rail can be engineered to emis less carbon dioxide
-Due to lack of requirement to check baggage and rare weather-related delays High Speed Rail is more convenient compared to other trasport and highly punctual.
- More comfortable for longer journeys that airplanes or cars and may carry excess passenges
- The possibility of collisions is eliminated and this system is easier to control, therefore is quite safe.
- High Speed Rail journey may include stops, which allows to open new markets.


However, there are a few serious drawbacks such as:

- High investment costs for both building new infrastructure and rolling stock allowing to roll at high speeds
- It is hardly flexible: it can't adjust quickly to changes in demand and even if it does it implies a considerable cost



P.S. Yes, i know that it was supposed to be an essay....