The great protagonist of the Spanish transport policy, High Speed Rail (HSR), has reached its greatest splendour to become, in late 2010, the largest HSR network of EU and OECD countries. However, the investment policy decisions have been taken in a context devoid of an open and rigorous debate and where economic analysis, which has obtained clear and robust results, has played a marginal role. The marginality of the effect of economic analysis on the investment policy is due to its almost exclusive emphasis on the financial aspects and the reluctance to address multidisciplinary elements that, in practice, have been commonly used as persuasive arguments for government’s network design. This paper provides an analysis in terms of objectives and actual effects of high speed projects, taking into account the multiple dimensions in order to complement the economic analysis by favouring its impact in the public policy debate. Among these multiple dimensions, we review the issues concerning the design and structure of the network, the economic costs and social return on investments, as well as the environmental and mobility impacts.

Key words: high speed rail, transport policy, infrastructure.
JEL classification: H54, L92, L98, R42.