https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2356-8120
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Abstract
New transport infrastructure alters the spatial distribution of accessibility, which can influence a region’s development potential. The implementation of High-Speed Rail (HSR) during the last decades has often considerably improved rail accessibility of connected regions, but is also often found to increase relative discrepancies between regions. We analyse the effects of currently planned rail projects on regional accessibility in Germany, with a spatial and network structure differing from other countries, for the year 2030. We use a population potential and a degree centrality measure and find slight tendency towards greater balancing of accessibility across regions and greater poly-centralisation within the rail network, showing the importance of network integration and improvements beyond the HSR network. Two macro-regions of Germany profit most from the planned rail lines: the economically dynamic South and the catching-up East. We interpret this as the outcome of two simultaneous planning goals which include removing “bottlenecks” and supporting weaker regions. We propose that the official regional planning assessment currently used in the planning process of national rail infrastructure could be improved by applying a potential accessibility measure.
Acknowledgements
We thank the participants of the International NECTAR Cluster 6 Accessibility workshop and our reviewers for their most helpful remarks, Diane Arvanitakis for proofreading and Friedrich Mönninger for technical assistance. Any errors that remain our sole responsibility.
Funding and disclosure statement
This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. No potential competing interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Fabian Wenner
Fabian Wenner MSc is a research and teaching associate at the Chair of Urban Development at Technical University of Munich’s (TUM) Department of Architecture. His research focuses on the interrelations of transport infrastructure, land policy, and urban development.
Alain Thierstein
Prof. Dr. Alain Thierstein is Full Professor for Urban Development at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Department of Architecture. His research focus is on the spatial impact of the knowledge economy – in particular, the spatial interaction of locational choice of residence, work and mobility.