High Speed Rail

New concept of High Speed Rail Development

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Concept of Elimination of High Speed Train Stations | Revolutionary or a total failure?

Yesterday, I was searching for some information on High Speed Railways development. HSR is an upcoming field in which rapid development is taking place.

I came across a very interesting article on “A new concept of rail travel”.

Boarding a Moving train – the core concept

Sounds really fascinating, isn’t it?

A British designer Paul Priestman came up with this new idea of boarding a moving train. According to him, this is the futuristic solution of speeding up rail travel. He is proposing the idea of MOVING PLATFORMS. He wants to completely eliminate the need for stations and not make any changes in the engines or tracks. According to his concept, Passengers would cross between the tram and train without either vehicle stopping. He does not want the passengers to get down on the stations and wait for the trains to come rather he wants complete integration of Tram – train crossing so that passengers can travel seamlessly and reach their destinations without having to stop at any intermediate station and wait for another train to come…

Train-tram connectivity
The image shows the Train-tram connectivity concept which will in future eliminate the need for train stations (This image has been taken from "edition.cnn.com" for reference and education purpose)

Sounds really cool…! But is it really possible? Forget about the possibilities. Technology can make everything possible. But the right question to ask would be; is it really feasible to do so??

Would it be as wonderful as it sounds? It is truly a very debatable concept.

A reason why Moving Platforms concept could fail

I would not deny the creativity of the concept but of course I would definitely question its feasibility. We can do so many better things than evolving a concept that will increase the burden on our economy. In United States of America, the rail stations are in a complete state of despair. So, wouldn’t it be great if we could work towards renovating and rehabilitation of stations. It would be more cost effective as well as it will help preserve the Architectural style of the past.

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HSR Stations design guide | Architectural Design

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Design of High Speed Rail Stations

India has a huge railway network. The length and spread of railway networks is amazingly vast. India ranks first in the length of railway network in Asia and second largest in the world.

Development of High Speed rail Networks is catching up a lot of speed in Europe. USA government is taking initiatives in order to develop HSR stations and enhance their public transport system.

HSR Station design by Santiago Calatrava
HSR Station design by Santiago Calatrava

United States of America is now realizing the importance of the nature of railroads and the power and speed of trains. It was seen that the number of road accidents had considerably increased. It was found that the increase in the number of road accidents was directly proportional to the decreased use of railways.

Indian Railway Ministry has ambitious plans for the development of railways for the year 2020.

Being able to design Railway Station keeping in mind today’s needs is very important. This article is dedicated to the basics of design of High Speed Rail Station. This will give the readers an insight on the design of HSR/Metro Stations.

Let us first understand the importance and function of a Station.

Stations are places where passengers check in and check out of the train. Station is the first point of contact between the passengers and the railway. It is to be understood that stations should be well designed, comfortable, aesthetically appealing, functionally efficient (efficient layout and planning of station will ensure efficient circulation).

My entire purpose for writing an article on the Design of HSR Stations is to help you understand all the design considerations that are to be importantly incorporated.

We would be discussing the design considerations for the important station areas so that designing could get handy.

Important Station Areas: