A Station Location Identification Model for an Integrated Interoperable High-Speed Rail System

Integrated interoperable rail systems facilitate high-speed rail (HSR) train movement on conventional intercity lines, and vice versa. Hence, for such rail systems, it is preferred that HSR stations are located at existing intercity rail stations. However, all existing intercity stations may not satisfy the ridership potential and inter-station spacing required for HSR operation. Providing more stations increases access to intermediate locations, boosting ridership, but also increases overall travel time. On the contrary, fewer stations and stops reduce overall ridership of the HSR. We propose a geographic information system-based interoperable HSR station location identification approach along existing intercity rail stations to identify suitable integrated interoperable HSR and intercity station locations. Avoiding environmentally sensitive land (such as wetlands, forests, etc.), and other requirements such as threshold inter-station distance and travel time between intended station locations and threshold population of the intended station region, are included as environmental, and corridor specific constraints, respectively. A heuristic approach is used to evaluate and obtain the candidate set of station locations that maximizes ridership and minimizes travel time, such that an integrated interoperable HSR and intercity corridor can be developed. The Mumbai–Ahmedabad conventional intercity corridor is used as a case study to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed model by identifying possible HSR station locations.