Impacts Of The New High Speed Rail Services On Small Tourist Cities: The Case Of Toledo (Spain)

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.