TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE
TRANSPORTATIONOECD International Conference, Vancouver Canada
TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE
TRANSPORTATION
High Speed Rail (HSR) achievements can be measured on three different scales. At the macro level of the transport sector, European HSR represents the first, and to date the only technology that has persuaded people to forego travel by airplane and the automobile. Unlike the Japanese "Shinkansen," European HSR has developed a clientele of passengers who had previously driven or flown. At the meso scale of the railway industry, HSR represents an administrative and fiscal rupture with 19th century roots, stimulating a re-invention of business practices extremely rare in declining industries. From marketing to operational practices, European railways appear "modern" in HSR, and often only in this subset of their business activity. At the micro level of individual and firm behaviour, HSR has created incentives to support more sustainable mobility. Passengers choose HSR because it is more convenient, and usually faster, than alternate modes. Both private and public companies pursue HSR development because it provides financial rewards.
The secrets of this success can be found in a willingness to regard transportation policy as a causal variable, and not simply the result of public and private pressures on government. Public officials were open to the possibility that "progress" in transportation was neither linear nor homogenous, and that alternatives to air and automobile travel were not only possible, but desirable. This experimentation was nurtured by public enterprise managers who blended the entrepreneurial behaviour of market actors with the long term perspective of public servants. Instead of looking on government-led experimentation as a threat, Europe's private industry became partners in innovation. Similar links have fostered today's achievements in aerospace and automobiles in North American transportation. There is no reason to believe these policy "secrets" definitely exclude HSR options in North America.