Abstract
The Railway in Shikoku region is less competitive than private cars in terms of its speed. Coupled with the motorization and de-population, the number of passengers has been drastically declined and that makes it difficult to keep the regional network because of the decline of income from passenger. Railway is expected to have a role of a basic social infrastructure to ensure the right to travel of people, and role of a strategic infrastructure for sustainable society. In this study, the socio-economic impact of high-speed rail in Shikoku is examined under the de-populating situation until 2035.
As a result, the speed up of railway will increase the number of passengers and improve the financial condition of railway operators. These results indicate that the public investment on high speed rail in Shikoku can be justified from the view point of efficiency and equity.
