In recent years, there has been an increasing move toward appraising the impacts of transport investments beyond the direct user benefits and costs. This presentation reviews the arguments in favor of measuring such impacts, the progress made in implementing such impacts in the appraisal, and the limitations of such an approach. It also shares disaggregate approaches that analyze the way new transport infrastructure, particularly high-speed rail, may lead to the restructuring and rebalancing of local and regional economies.

High-speed rail (HSR) is considered necessary for regional development. Several HSRs are under development in Asia, and Japan’s experience would be informative and useful to them. This presentation covers five HSR case studies, including projects in Japan and the Kuala Lumpur–Singapore HSR.

Evidences show that proponents govern rail transit megaprojects in India by either imitating proven and institutionalized practices from elsewhere and/or developing innovative and indigenous practices.