Using contact potential measurements to analyse future intercity links made possible by the Tours–Bordeaux High-Speed Rail line

Abstract

New high-speed rail transport infrastructures produce profound time-space changes that make new activities possible. Our aim is to measure the impact of such changes on potential business or leisure travel between cities.We develop a contact potential indicator (Törnqvist, 1970) that measures the possibility of making a trip to a distant location within the desirable time-space prism. The indicator is developed in the context of the high-speed rail line between Tours and Bordeaux.The results demonstrate the possibility of contact from a series of key cities affected by new high-speed rail infrastructure, both before and after project completion. Our analysis shows that Bordeaux benefits greatly from the extension of the rail line: the preferred method of contact to Paris will switch to rail from the current air preference, and several cities that cannot be reached in the current pre-project conditions will become “contactable”. Other cities that benefit are Angoulême, Tours and Poitiers.

Keywords

• contact potential
• high-speed train
• Tours-Bordeaux high-speed rail line