MTI 02-02
Best Practices in Shared-Use High-Speed
Rail Systems by Principal Investigator Andrew Nash.
One of the key challenges for U.S. high-speed
rail planning is to take full advantage of foreign experience while ensuring
that no degradation of safety or unmitigated environmental effects result
from the deployment of foreign technology in North America.
This research describes shared-use HSR
systems, an important strategy for improving the feasibility of high-speed
rail. In shared-use HSR, high-speed passenger trains use the same tracks and
infrastructure as slower passenger or freight trains.
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A high-speed rail system is
intercity passenger ground transportation that is time-competitive with air
and/or auto for travel markets in the approximate range of 100 to 500 miles,
and these systems are increasingly gaining attention in the United States.
Many states are developing proposals for new HSR systems designed to solve
critical transportation problems, especially the growing congestion on our
highway and airport systems. Highspeed rail is also viewed as a way to focus
growth and development around stations as well as to serve as a catalyst for
economic growth.
There is significant
international experience in building and operating HSR systems that can be
helpful in planning U.S. systems. One of the key challenges for U.S.
high-speed rail planning is to take full advantage of foreign experience
while ensuring that no degradation of safety or unmitigated environmental
effects result from the deployment of foreign technology in North America.
Shared-use HSR systems are railroad infrastructure, rolling stock, and
operating strategies that are used by both high-speed trains and
conventional service (for example, freight, commuter rail, and intercity
passenger rail). This research describes shared-use HSR systems, an
important strategy for improving the feasibility of highspeed rail. In
shared-use HSR, high-speed passenger trains use the same tracks and
infrastructure as slower passenger or freight trains.
This research report will be
most interesting to HSR system planners and managers who want to learn about
shared-use techniques. Because many of the strategies used in Europe were
found to be based on traditional railroad engineering techniques for
increasing capacity and speed, and therefore fairly well known to railroad
engineers, the report will be useful to them mainly as a comprehensive
listing of potential strategies for improving shared-use operations. The
report will also be interesting for those who want to learn more about
high-speed rail planning in general.
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 The
report’s principal author was Andrew Nash, an independent transportation
planning consultant living in Zurich, Switzerland. Nash was Executive
Director of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority before moving
to Europe. As Executive Director of the Transportation Authority, he was
responsible for managing a government agency with an annual budget of more
than $100 million. The Authority allocated funds for capital projects to the
city’s transportation agencies and completed long-range transportation
planning for San Francisco.
Before coming to the SFCTA,
Nash was Project Manager for the Caltrain commuter railroad. There he
directed several large and controversial transportation engineering studies,
including extending the railroad to a new multimodal transportation terminal
in downtown San Francisco and an airport-rail-Caltrain connection project.
Nash came to Caltrain from Santa Clara County, where he was Director of
Congestion Management. Nash earned a Master of Civil Engineering and a
Master of City Planning from the University of California, Berkeley in 1987.
He earned a Master of Science in Transportation from Northeastern University
in 1983 and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute. He is a registered Professional Civil Engineer in
California.
Nash has authored several
publications, most recently Implementation of Zurich’s Transit Priority
Program (available at www.transweb.sjsu.edu).
Other publications include "Caltrain Rapid Rail Program," TRB
Annual Meeting 1999; "Public Decision Making for the Caltrain Downtown
San Francisco Extension Project," Transportation Research Record 1571,
March 1997; "California’s Congestion Management Program," ITE
Journal, February 1992; "Effective Citizen Involvement in the
Transportation Planning Process," TRB Annual Meeting, 1990; and
"Vehicle Pooling in Transit Operations" (with Peter Furth),
American Society of Civil Engineers, Journal of Transportation
Engineering, May 1985.
Nash has also served as an
officer for several nonprofit organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area,
including President of Greenbelt Alliance and Board Member of the San
Francisco Urban Planning and Research Association. Nash also ran
unsuccessfully for election to the Bay Area Rapid Transit District Board of
Directors in 1992.
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