Assessing High Speed Railway Service Areas in Spain Mainland from a Multi-method GIS Approach

Abstract

The high-speed railway stations are the only access point to enjoy this rail service. Thus, its location and spatial distribution, and the roads to access them, acquires great importance. For this reason, taking into account the population of the Spanish peninsular municipalities, the degree of coverage offered by the 36 existing operating stations is determined. A methodology based on the method of determining floating catchment areas in three steps, is developed using territorial accessibility measures which were obtained through the network analysis tool offered by a Geographical Information System. The results represented by thematic cartography allow identifying the municipalities with the highest high-speed rail coverage. The municipalities with less coverage are also identified, where the road access of the residents in these municipalities to high-speed rail stations should be improved.

Keywords

• High-speed railway stations
• three-step floating catchment area
• territorial accessibility
• high-speed rail service fairness
• spatial planning