The selectivity of High Speed Rail system imposes arbitration between the technical and economic logic of the rail network operator and the opportunities of opening-up and territorial development claimed by local actors. In France, this dilemma has been resolved by the building of new HSR stations on the outskirts of small and medium-sized cities. High-speed rail system profoundly changed their accessibility and local authorities planned ambitious economic projects to convert accessibility gains into territorial development. However, these new peripheral stations have only produced modest benefits. In order to understand the limited effects of the strategies adopted by the local actors, the paper offers a systemic approach of the interactions between the choice of location of stations, the characteristics of spatial organization, and the geographical and economic impacts of HSR. The analysis of the decision-making process leading to these peripheral locations of stations emphasizes that local actors have not had the ability to negotiate the most favorable conditions for the territorial integration of these new transport infrastructures and have encountered difficulties to implement coherent and coordinated strategies
Keywords: Peripheral HSR stations|France|territorial impacts|regional development|systemic analysis
A103508VF