The US Department of Transportation's commercial feasibility study (CFS) of high-speed ground transportation (HSGT) included a detailed estimate of operating and maintenance (O&M) costs for eight HSGT technologies across nine intercity rail corridors in the United States. The number of cases examined in detail provides a wealth of information that can support general conclusions about HSGT O&M costs under the normative assumptions of the CFS. These conclusions are expressed primarily in terms of six parameters: the nominal maximum authorised speed of the technology; revenue seat-miles; revenue seat-hours; corridor passenger traffic density; specific trip length; and corridor length. The total O&M unit costs per passenger-mile estimated for the CFS are related to these parameters: it is concluded that most of the variation among operating and maintenance cost estimates can be explained by a set of four descriptive parameters in conjunction with a choice of technology option; for a given corridor length and amount of transportation provided, the total O&M costs for other than maintenance of way increase only modestly with higher speeds and more advanced technologies; maintenance of way costs exhibit economies of scale but can vary widely among corridors, depending on the ownership and operating arrangement for the corridor, the lowest unit-cost option for a corridor is strongly determined by traffic density and by the potential for market growth with increased operating speeds.
Abstract