Air Transport versus High-Speed Rail: An Overview and Research Agenda

Figure 3

Comparison of HSR networks and airport networks in five European countries (Spain, France, Germany, United Kingdom, and Italy). In the HSR networks, different colors indicate different maximum speed: green color > 200 km/h; blue color > 250 km/h; red color > 300 km/h. In the airport networks, domestic flights with passengers more than 1,000 per month and with distances less than 1,000 km are shown. It can be seen that highly developed air transport networks are still denser than newly emerged HSR networks.

(a) HSR network (data source: OpenStreetMap)

(b) Airport network (data source: Sabre Airline Solutions)