Editing High-speed rail (section)

===Air travel===
{{prose|section|date=February 2019}}
{{Original research section|date=January 2025}}

====HSR advantages====
* Less boarding infrastructure: Although air transit moves at higher speeds than high-speed rail, '''total time to destination''' can be increased by travel to/from far out airports, check-in, baggage handling, security, and boarding, which may also increase cost to air travel.<ref name="Planes cheaper than trains on half of routes">{{Cite web |title=Trains or planes? The great European travel test |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/columnists/nicktrend/8345279/Trains-or-planes-The-great-European-travel-test.html |access-date=2023-06-29 |website=www.telegraph.co.uk|date=24 February 2011 }}</ref>
* Short range advantages: Trains may be preferred in short to mid-range distances since rail stations are typically closer to urban centers than airports.<ref name="High Speed Train VS Airplane">http://www.techthefuture.com/mobility/high-speed-train-vs-airplane/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052549/http://www.techthefuture.com/mobility/high-speed-train-vs-airplane/|date=4 March 2016}} from [http://www.techthefuture.com/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074320/http://www.techthefuture.com/|date=4 March 2016}} as of 10 May 2014</ref> Likewise, air travel needs longer distances to have a speed advantage after accounting for both processing time and transit to the airport.
* Urban centers: Particularly for dense city centers, short-hop air travel may not be ideal to serve these areas as airports tend to be far out of the city, due to land scarcity, short runway limitations, building heights, as well as airspace issues.
* Weather: Rail travel also requires less weather dependency than air travel. A well-designed and operated rail system can only be affected by severe weather conditions, such as heavy snow, heavy fog, and major storm. Flights however, often face cancellations or delays under less severe conditions.
* Comfort: High-speed trains also have comfort advantages, since train passengers are allowed to move freely about the train at any point in the journey.<ref name="The Unique Amtrak Experience with Many Benefits">http://www.amtrak.com/the-unique-amtrak-experience-with-many-benefits from [[Amtrak]] as of 10 May 2014</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Narayanan |first1=V.G. |title=Delays at Logan Airport |last2=Batta |first2=George |publisher=Harvard Business School |publication-date=2001-12-13 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=Frittelli |first1=John |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA511142.pdf |title=High Speed Rail (HSR) in the United States |last2=Mallett |first2=William J. |publisher=[[Congressional Research Service]] |publication-date=2009-12-08 |language=en |oclc=1119597335 |access-date=2023-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114201446/https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA511142.pdf |archive-date=2023-01-14 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Rp|page=23}} Since airlines have complicated calculations to try to minimise weight to save fuel or to allow takeoff at certain runway lengths, rail seats are also less subject to weight restrictions than on planes, and as such may have more padding and legroom.<ref name=":2" />{{Rp|page=23}} Technology advances such as [[continuously welded rail]] have minimised the [[Hunting oscillation|vibration]] found on slower railways, while air travel remains affected by [[turbulence]] when adverse wind conditions arise.{{Citation needed|date=May 2014}} Trains can also accommodate intermediate stops at lower time and energetic costs than planes, though this applies less to HSR than to the slower conventional trains.
* Delays: On particular busy air-routes – those that HSR has historically been most successful on – trains are also less prone to delays due to congested airports, or in the case of [[China]], airspace. A train that is late by a couple of minutes will not have to wait for another slot to open up, unlike airplanes at congested airports. Furthermore, many airlines see short-haul flights as increasingly uneconomic and in some countries airlines rely on high-speed rail instead of short-haul flights for connecting services.<ref>Examples of this include SNCF who codeshares with Air France and Lufthansa's AIRail in cooperation with DB</ref>
* [[De-ice#Aircraft|De-icing]]: HSR does not need to spend time deicing as planes do, which is time-consuming but critical; it can dent airline profitability as planes remain on the ground and pay airport fees by the hour, as well as take up parking space and contributing to congestive delays.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://airlinegeeks.com/2017/12/29/the-time-consuming-but-extremely-critical-process-of-deicing-aircraft-in-the-winter/|title=The Time-Consuming But Extremely Critical Process of Deicing Aircraft in the Winter|date=29 December 2017}}</ref>
* Hot and high: Some airlines have cancelled or move their flights to takeoff at night due to [[hot and high]] conditions. Such is the case for [[Hainan Airlines]] in [[Las Vegas]] in 2017, which moved its long haul takeoff slot to after midnight. Similarly, [[Norwegian Air Shuttle]] cancelled all its Europe-bound flights during summer due to heat.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/hainan-moving-flights-to-early-mornings-to-beat-the-heat/|title=Hainan moving flights to early mornings to beat the heat|date=30 May 2017}}</ref> High-speed rail may complement airport operations during hot hours when takeoffs become uneconomical or otherwise problematic.
* Noise and pollution: Major airports are heavy polluters, downwind of LAX particulate pollution doubles, even accounting for Port of LA/Long Beach shipping and heavy freeway traffic.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/web/2014/05/Los-Angeles-Airport-Pollutes-City.html|title=Los Angeles Airport Pollutes City Air For Miles Downwind – Chemical & Engineering News|first=Deirdre|last=Lockwood|website=cen.acs.org}}</ref> Trains may run on renewable energy, and electric trains produce no local pollution in critical urban areas at any rate. Noise also is an issue for residents.
* Ability to serve multiple stops: An airplane spends significant amounts of time loading and unloading cargo and/or passengers as well as landing, taxiing and starting again. Trains spend only a few minutes stopping at intermediate stations, often greatly enhancing the business case at little cost.
* Energy: high-speed trains are more fuel-efficient per passenger space offered than planes. Furthermore, they usually run on electricity, which can be produced from a wider range of sources than [[kerosene]].

====Disadvantages====
* HSR usually requires land acquisition, for example in [[Fresno]], [[California]], where it was caught up in legal paperwork.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/high-speed-rail/article19539180.html|title=Land-acquisition concerns continue to dog high-speed rail agency}}</ref>
* HSR is subject to [[land subsidence]], where expensive fixes sent costs soaring in Taiwan.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=6,23,45,6,6&post=10392|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107011748/http://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=6,23,45,6,6&post=10392|url-status=dead |title=Taiwan tackles land subsidence with water project|date=26 July 2011|archive-date=7 November 2017|website=Taiwan Today |publisher=Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of China (Taiwan)}}</ref>
* HSR is affected by topography of the terrain as crossing mountain ranges or large bodies of water requires expensive tunnels and bridges.
* HSR is costly due to required specialised infrastructure as well as advanced technologies and multiple safety systems.{{citation needed|date=January 2025}}
* The infrastructure is fixed hence the services provided are limited and can not be changed in response to changing market conditions. However, for passengers this can present an advantage as services are less likely to be withdrawn from railways compared to flight routes.
* As the infrastructure can be extremely expensive, it is not possible to create a direct route between every major city. This means that a train might be transiting or stopping in intermediate stations, increasing the length and duration of a journey.
* Railways require the security and cooperation of all geographies and governments involved.
* As most HSRs are electrified they require an extended electricity grid to supply the [[Overhead line]]s

====Pollution====
High-speed rail usually implements electric power and therefore its energy sources can be distant or renewable. The usage of electric power in high-speed rails can thereby result in a reduction of air pollutants as shown in a case study on China's high-speed railways throughout its development.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Yang |first1=Xuehui |last2=Lin |first2=Shanlang |last3=Li |first3=Yan |last4=He |first4=Minghua |date=2019-12-01 |title=Can high-speed rail reduce environmental pollution? Evidence from China |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652619330057 |journal=Journal of Cleaner Production |language=en |volume=239 |pages=118135 |doi=10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118135 |bibcode=2019JCPro.23918135Y |s2cid=202318356 |issn=0959-6526}}</ref> This is an advantage over air travel, which currently uses fossil fuels and is a major source of pollution. Studies regarding busy airports such as LAX, have shown that over an area of about {{convert|60|km2|abbr=off}} downwind of the airport, where hundreds of thousands of people live or work, the particle number concentration was at least twice that of nearby urban areas, showing that airplane pollution far exceeded road pollution, even from heavy freeway traffic.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cen.acs.org/articles/92/web/2014/05/Los-Angeles-Airport-Pollutes-City.html|title=Los Angeles Airport Pollutes City Air For Miles Downwind – Chemical & Engineering News|first=Deirdre|last=Lockwood}}</ref>