Nuevas tecnologias de transporte y metropolitanización discontiua del territorio: el tren de alta velocidad en Segovia

Abstract

The high speed train (HST) was initially developed with the aim of establishing more contacts between relatively distant, large urban nuclei, but its introduction, the characteristics of the services established, and its use of infrastructure have given rise to new vocations. Today, the HST performs a number of new territorial functions: structuring large and medium-sized cities within a given region (regional function) and structuring discontinuous metropolitan environments located within approximately one hour of the central city with which they have recently become better connected (metropolitan function). This metropolitan function, which is structured by the very sharp time-space contraction occasioned by the HST, is easily appreciated in the dynamics of the passenger shuttle services that run between the cities of Toledo, Ciudad Real, Segovia-Guiomar and Madrid. These cities are now connected to the central metropolis in less than one hour (to Atocha station in the first two cases and to Chamartín in the third). Based on time and location, the station of Guadalajara-Yebes could also be included in this analysis; but the railway connection between this city and Madrid is based on conventional rail services connecting the central station of Guadalajara with Madrid but already forming part of Madrid’s local rail service network. In the text, we use the case study of Segovia to analyse how the new territorial reality of the discontinuous metropolis has gradually developed as a result of the process of space-time contraction caused by high speed services and which – in many cases - has allowed commuting between very distant cities.