Railways and Population Distribution: France, Spain, and Portugal, 1870–2000 (original) (raw)
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The Railway Network and the Process of Population Concentration in Spain, 1900-2001
Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, 2014
ABSTRACTThis paper proposes a methodology for quantifying the territorial impact on population distribution of the railway. The central hypothesis is that access to railway services provides the best-connected areas with a long-term comparative advantage over others that are less accessible. Carrying out a historical analysis and providing comparable data at the municipal level allows us to determine the extent to which the railway has fostered the concentration of population within its immediate surroundings. The case study presented here is that of Spain between 1900 and 2001, but the same methodology could equally be applied to any other country for which the required data are available. In this case, key data included a Geographic Information System with information about both the development of the railway network and census data relating to total population at the municipal level. The results obtained suggest the relevance of this methodology, which makes it possible to identi...
Urban tranformation and the development of Spain's railway network 1850 2000
The aim of this paper is to propose and demonstrate a methodology for investigating the phenomenon of urban population growth and development in Spain and its association with railway services. This approach is based on an analysis of the evolution of population in urban areas, differentiating between those that have, or had, railway connections and those that do, did, or did not. In this respect, Spain offers a very interesting case study and one that could help to establish benchmarks for studying the influence of railway services on the concentration of population. In contrast to other European countries –in which the railway network is denser– most of the major agglomerations in Spain have developed independently from railway services. As a prior step in our analysis, it was necessary to integrate data referring to population and railway lines in a spatial database, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This approach, which has not been used before, offers us the possibility to explore a new form of spatial-temporal evaluation of the impact that can be attributed to railways.
2019
The railway revolution that swayed through Europe in the nineteenth century left a legacy of unexplored networks. In this paper, we observe a subset of unfinished railways to evaluate the impact of railroads on population growth. Using the random nature of the achieved portions, we compare municipalities located around the planned but not realized segment of the railways to those in the vicinity of the operated sections. Our results indicate that the railways boost population growth in the medium and long-run. However, the medium-run effects are only visible in municipalities with high pre-arrival population. The railroads also seem to have solved a coordination problem in the sense that treated municipalities were more likely to gain access to other transport infrastructures later.
RAILROADS IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Historiography on Portuguese railroads has not paid much attention neither to their regional effects, nor to the relationship between the operation of this form of transportation and population evolution. In fact, available studies usually adopt a national approach and analyze the contribution of railroads to the overall development of the country. The main argument of this paper is that in the Portuguese case, access to railroads reinforced pre-existing territorial inequalities and promoted different regional dynamics, mainly with regard to population growth, urban development and population mobility. In reality, in the more developed regions, railroad access helped increase population concentration in the areas served by this infrastructure. The railways also favored the growth of pre-existing urban centers and the emergence of new ones. They also encouraged migration into towns, thus contributing to their growth. In the Inland North, where the Tua line is integrated, traditionally affected by greater transportation difficulties, railroads seem to have operated in the opposite direction, contributing to a decline in population relative to the other regions of Portugal. Moreover, this area continued to be characterized by a predominance of modest-sized cities, unable to match the dynamism of the urban centers in the coastal regions or to attract a migrant population to aid in their development. Instead, since the end of the nineteenth century, this region suffered from an increasing emigration that railroads seem to have facilitated. To explain this evolution we must also take into account the economic crisis that affected the agriculture of this part of the country, but the presence of the railroad seems to have been a significant factor. In this paper, we will try to put the Tua line in this context, comparing its effects on population with those caused by the Beira Baixa line in another Portuguese mountainous region around the city of Covilhã.
The introduction of the high speed rail and urban restructuring: the case of Spain
xesc.cat
The introduction of the high speed rail in Spanish cities with stations located either in the centre of the city or on its outskirts has presented a new opportunity for railways and cities to reconcile their differences. The introduction and development of railway infrastructure, which began back in the 19 th century, combined with rapid urban growth created a problem of integration that was never satisfactorily resolved. With time, railway workshops, warehouses and other centrally located railway installations and tracks became trapped in central locations where they constituted divisive barriers. The arrival of the new high speed train (HST) was therefore regarded by many Spanish cities as an excellent opportunity for these cities and their rail installations to resolve long-standing differences. This article presents some examples in which notable synergies have been achieved between the implantation of the HST lines and the urban model. Our analysis centres on large and medium-sized non-metropolitan cities, as they tend to be less complex systems with only one railway station.
Transport Infraestructure and Territory. The Structural Effects of the High-Speed Train in Spain
2010
SUMMARY In recent years, the expansion of the high-speed rail network in Spain has generated a growing interest in urban and territorial development policies and in how they are analysed by academia. The present article adds to these studies by: first exploring the opportunities for socioeconomic and territorial development that the high speed train (HST) offers to mediumsized cities; second, analysing the effects that the introduction of this type of infrastructure and the arrival of the HST have on the territory; and finally, highlighting the main policies that local agents implement in order to maximize the benefits associated with the presence of the train. The ultimate objective of the article is to identify policy issues that may help public policymakers to maximize the opportunities that the HST creates for their respective territories. The article summarizes the knowledge acquired during a decade spent examining the socioeconomic and urban impacts of the HST on medium-sized ...
Social Science History
The initial period of construction of the Spanish railway network is often criticized for its radial structure, centered on Madrid. In this article, the authors describe the role of the state during the initial stage of railway network construction and confirm that although the political will to construct a centralist network certainly influenced its morphology, other social and economic criteria were also influential. With regard to the political motives behind the radial network, the authors argue that part of this interest could have come in response to perceived needs to strengthen the presence of the Spanish state throughout its national territory and to promote a process of state-building. Finally, it must be stressed that the central hypothesis of our article is that the radial structure of the network was a natural consequence of the strategic geographical position of the country’s capital and of the distribution of economic activity within Spanish territory. The article pro...