Subways: The New Urban Status Symbol
Business Week - December 5, 2007
by Jennifer Fishbein
It seems like everywhere you turn these days, a new
high-speed train is whisking more passengers across longer
distances faster than ever before. A [NOUN] to Paris from
London is quicker than flying; Japanese bullet trains traverse the
320 miles from Tokyo to Osaka in two and a half hours; and
magnetic levitating trains in Shanghai cut through the city at 268
miles per hour. But while high-speed trains may grab all the
glamour, the more mundane business of subway construction is
what's driving the biggest growth for transportation companies.
Indeed, the world is seeing an unprecedented boom in new
subways and expansion to existing systems. Thanks to surging
economic growth and urban populations, demand for subways is
soaring in China and India. Lots of other places around the
world also are building new lines, from Dubai to Santo Domingo,
capital of the Dominican Republic. And many European and
American cities ? including even such improbable locales as Los
Angeles and Phoenix ? have caught the transit bug.
Problem-Solving and Prestige
Some cities build out of necessity. Rising prosperity
prompted Dubai residents to buy so many cars that they realized
they could [ADVERB] longer drive these cars because they
were stuck in traffic. Others are keen on the environmental
benefits of metros, which produce far less pollution and
encourage drivers to leave cars at home. Some places, mainly
in the Middle East, are looking to diversify their oil-dependent
economies. And others, to be honest, are chasing an urban
status symbol. Building a metro won't turn any old town into
Paris or London, but it does tell the world that you've arrived.
"You have in some cases a prestige issue, which is more
the case in young cities in need of an image," says Jean-Noël
Debroise, vice-president for product and strategy at Alstom
(ALSO.PA), the French transport company that has built a
quarter of the world's metros.
Rennes is an example of the new trend. The city of about
212,000 people in northwestern France was looking to raise its profile when it installed a metro in 2002. It raised the bar by
opting for a driverless system made by Siemens ? just like the
shiny new No. 14 line in Paris ? protecting passengers from the
French penchant for transit strikes. Turin, Italy, did the same to
help win its bid for the 2006 Winter Olympics; its driverless
system opened just before the games. Even the Spanish island
of Mallorca inaugurated a short metro line in April in hopes of
luring even more tourists to its capital, Palma. Alas, it closed
indefinitely in September due to flooding, amid charges of
mismanagement.
A Boon for Transit Builders
The world's three largest metro manufacturers, Montrealbased
Bombardier (BBDB.TO), Alstom, and Munich-based
Siemens (SI) report high demand for mass transit, including
tramways and light-rail systems that run both under and
[PREPOSITION] ground. The global subway market was worth
9.3 billion dollars in 2005 and is projected to grow at a rate of
2.7% per year until 2015, according to a 2007 study by the
European Railway Industry Assn. Subway lines [TO BUILD] or
extended in 20 European cities and five Middle Eastern ones,
and dozens of towns are constructing light-rail systems, reports
the Brussels-based International Association of Public
Transport.
The size of a city determines its need for a metro system.
Cities of a few million people ? or those anticipating huge
population growth ? really can't do without a mass transit
system. But cities of one or two million inhabitants can choose
between a subway and a surface tramway, which costs far less
but also runs more slowly. [CONJUNCTION] funding is an issue,
cities usually will spring for a subway, says Debroise. "The
tramway has a very old image of the 19th century, with horses in
the streets," he says.
(Adapted from http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/
content/dec2007/gb2007125_600001.htm?chan=top+news_
top+news+index_global+business)
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