What the Eurostar's Success Means for California HSR

The discussion of high-speed rail in the United States often veers off track, if you will, by the presence of strong auto interests. While roads and rails certainly compete for federal funding, it's planes and trains that compete most for travelers in mid-range, city-to-city corridors. American high-speed rail may not win many contests with the highway lobby, but a new study of intermodal competition in Europe shows that fast trains can more than handle their own against air travel when given the chance.

In a study in press at the Journal of Urban Economics, Dutch researchers Christiaan Behrens and Eric Pels analyze the passenger market between London and Paris from 2003 through 2009. The primary competitors in this corridor are conventional air carriers like Air France and British Airways, low-cost carriers like easyJet, and the Eurostar high-speed rail service. Over the course of the study — which looked at roughly 9,500 business and 18,000 leisure trips — the Eurostar has been far and away the dominant travel choice: