The wider spatial-economic impacts of high-speed trains: a comparative case study of Manchester and Lille sub-regions

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the wider spatial-economic impacts of high-speed trains (HSTs) within post-industrial regions. A core question underlies the analysis: can HST effects spread from the core city to surrounding sub-regions, or could they widen the gap between core and peripheral places? A comparative case study of two regions – Manchester and its sub-regions in North West England (UK) and Lille and its sub-regions in Nord-Pas-de-Calais (France) – with similar industrial trajectories and opportunities allied to two different HST approaches was conducted to offer crucial insights. The findings showed that for both regions, the arrival of HSTs did assist the development towards the knowledge economy, but the specific aspects vary. Also, the differential effects existed: the connection with the national capital by faster train services did economically strengthen the regional capital, but not some sub-regions around it, especially former industrial sub-regions. The comparison between the two regions shows that the transformation of post-industrial regions and sub-regions towards the knowledge economy brought by HSTs proves a complex and difficult process. Both post-industrial regions are still in the course of transition. In Nord-Pas-de-Calais, the wider economic transformation is just beginning to happen, while the laboriously-upgraded West Coast Main Line seems to demonstrate limits to its transformative power. This process involves much more than being connected with highspeed trains, significant as this may be. A full investigation of causality deserves another paper, but the findings suggested three critical factors: the economic trajectory and its infrastructure needs, a HST hub strategy and the simultaneous improvement of the intra-regional transport network, and path dependency.

Introduction

The arrival of high-speed trains (HSTs) revolutionises time–space¹ perception, with major impacts on regional spatial-economic development. This paper aims to analyse the wider spatial-economic impacts of HSTs on transforming post-industrial regions. It is a direct follow-up to a previous empirical study (Chen and Hall, 2011) of the inter-regional impact of the UK’s Inter City 125/225, which analysed medium-term impacts on 26 local authorities served by 6 rail lines radiating from London, and found that “HST has had substantial and demonstrable effects in aiding this transition within a 2-h travel limit of London, thus helping to generate renewed economic growth, but that the effects have not been automatic or universal” (Chen and Hall, 2011). The question naturally arose: can such effects spread from the core city to other locations in the surrounding sub-region, or do they in fact increase the peripheralisation of peripheral places not directly served by the new HSTs?

Although modern HST development began in Japan, the UK and France were the first two European countries to develop HST systems, but in different ways: the UK by upgrading existing lines, France by constructing new dedicated lines. Meanwhile HST development coincided with the profound economic restructuring of European economies away from manufacturing and into the knowledge economy (Hall, 2007), placing a premium on large city-centre clusters for very high-valued activities, while others decentralise into ever-spreading “mega-city regions” (Hall and Pain, 2006). Hence, this paper seeks to answer that question through a comparative case study of two core regional cities and their sub-regions in course of transformation from the industrial to the post-industrial knowledge-based economy: Manchester and its sub-regions in North West England (henceforth NWE) (UK) and Lille and its sub-regions in Nord-Pas-de-Calais (henceforth NPDC) (France).

The paper first briefly summarises the rather scant existing literature, then briefly outlines the research context and methodology, presents the respective results of the two post-industrial regions about the effects of time–space shrinkages and the wider spatial-economic patterns, and goes on to discussion and conclusions.