ABSTRACT
Much has been claimed about the ability of high-speed rail (HSR) to transform cities and regions. The hard evidence of success or the best way of achieving it is much less clear. With over fifty years of experience in Japan and almost forty years in Europe, it is timely to reflect on its long-term achievements. HSR has the potential to transform the interurban system, mostly in the long-term, by increasing accessibility and reducing time–space distances, changing intercity relations in the short-term, and a city’s relative position within the urban hierarchy. Before HSR, same-day return travel was only possible between national major cities and between most small cities and major cities. Now HSR has also made day-return travel feasible between some isolated distant small cities. Intermediate cities, situated between large metropolitan centres, also present varied effects. HSR connecting several distant metropolitan areas, linking together a chain of cities, may create an integrated corridor economy, facilitating linear conurbations.
