Economic assessment of railway policies: high speed or high-performance. A case of study

Abstract

The objective of the present paper is to assess the railway investment project in Spain for the Santander-Madrid route, using the Cost-Benefit Analysis method. The paper aims at answering the following question - what is more viable: a High Speed Train for passengers between Santander and Madrid, or rather a High Performance Train for passengers and cargo between Santander and Madrid? Being able to answer this question is clearly key information for investment decision making in the field of government's or country's transport policy. In this study, a Cost-Benefit Analysis with two options for the railway project has been calculated: only passengers and combined passengers-cargo. In this case, results favour the passengers-cargo option rather than its alternative.