Author(s)

B. Guirao & F. Soler

Abstract

Toledo is a medium size town of 78.000 inhabitants, located in central Spain, 70 km south of Madrid, and constitutes the capital of the province of Toledo and of the autonomous community of Castille-La Mancha. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its extensive cultural and monumental heritage as one of the former capitals of the Spanish Empire and place of coexistence of Christian, Jewish and Moorish cultures. This paper presents and analyses the results of a study on the impact of the new high-speed rail on Toledo local and interurban mobility. The location of the station, at the edge of the city, conditions the urban mobility of the users (tourists and commuters to Madrid) and demands a good integration of the various modes of transportation. The research includes a survey of train users, with more than 5000 valid questionnaires collected during the week between 22nd and 28th October 2007. Keywords: high speed rail line, interurban mobility, mobility survey, transportation planning. 1 Introduction Up to now, the main target of new high-speed lines has been connecting two big population areas which size justifies the public investment required for its construction. But also, small and medium size cities are generally included in interior points of these lines. After more than fifteen years of experience, Spanish high-speed network is centered in Madrid and covers more than 1500 km. (see Figure 1), offering not only services of long distance but also shuttles in short relations (less than 200 kilometres) with a high frequency of trains. These later services are being called \“regional high-speed services” and the new high speed line Madrid-Toledo (inaugurated on November 2005), with

Keywords

high speed rail line, interurban mobility, mobility survey, transportation planning.