Nice! That’s great to know
November 5, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Nice! That’s great to know
I should probably add it
October 14, 2025 at 11:54 AM
I should probably add it
October 14, 2025 at 8:15 AM
Here I used the GPS coordinates and the tool automatically looked up population within 30km (which is much faster than having to manually look up metro population numbers)
October 14, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Here I used the GPS coordinates and the tool automatically looked up population within 30km (which is much faster than having to manually look up metro population numbers)
I quickly threw the ChatGPT Midwest proposal in railmapper.net and ridership is decent at 27,000 per rail-km (2.5x Spain).
The economic viability stands or falls (as always) with the construction cost assumption. With ChatGPT’s assumed $21.5m per kilometer, you get a manageable -7% loss margin.
The economic viability stands or falls (as always) with the construction cost assumption. With ChatGPT’s assumed $21.5m per kilometer, you get a manageable -7% loss margin.
October 13, 2025 at 9:56 PM
I quickly threw the ChatGPT Midwest proposal in railmapper.net and ridership is decent at 27,000 per rail-km (2.5x Spain).
The economic viability stands or falls (as always) with the construction cost assumption. With ChatGPT’s assumed $21.5m per kilometer, you get a manageable -7% loss margin.
The economic viability stands or falls (as always) with the construction cost assumption. With ChatGPT’s assumed $21.5m per kilometer, you get a manageable -7% loss margin.
October 13, 2025 at 8:43 PM
I quickly threw the ChatGPT Midwest proposal in railmapper.net and ridership is decent at 27,000 per rail-km (2.5x Spain).
The economic viability stands or falls (as always) with the construction cost assumption. With ChatGPT’s assumed $21.5m per kilometer, you get a manageable -7% loss margin.
The economic viability stands or falls (as always) with the construction cost assumption. With ChatGPT’s assumed $21.5m per kilometer, you get a manageable -7% loss margin.
You can use the -1.3 travel time elasticity to incorporate slower lines into a high speed model by artificially increasing their length: pedestrianobservations.com/2022/06/05/i...
So (150 kmh / 300 kmh)^-1.3 = 2.5 times
Which means that the 72km Rennes-Saint Malo line becomes 180km. Etc.
So (150 kmh / 300 kmh)^-1.3 = 2.5 times
Which means that the 72km Rennes-Saint Malo line becomes 180km. Etc.
Rail Mapper
Design and analyze high speed rail networks
calibration.railmapper.pages.dev
October 13, 2025 at 8:13 PM
You can use the -1.3 travel time elasticity to incorporate slower lines into a high speed model by artificially increasing their length: pedestrianobservations.com/2022/06/05/i...
So (150 kmh / 300 kmh)^-1.3 = 2.5 times
Which means that the 72km Rennes-Saint Malo line becomes 180km. Etc.
So (150 kmh / 300 kmh)^-1.3 = 2.5 times
Which means that the 72km Rennes-Saint Malo line becomes 180km. Etc.
Thanks! The default parameters assume the metro population is being used, but you can fully configure those things (though that’s exceedingly tricky).
If you put in gps coordinates, it will automatically pull the population within 30km.
More details here: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
If you put in gps coordinates, it will automatically pull the population within 30km.
More details here: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Rail Mapper — Modeling High Speed Rail Networks Anywhere in the World
Rail Mapper — Modeling High Speed Rail Networks Anywhere in the World Thijs Niks, August 2025. Email me at thijs@niks.nu or find me on Twitter and BlueSky. Introduction This is an overview of how Rail...
docs.google.com
October 13, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Thanks! The default parameters assume the metro population is being used, but you can fully configure those things (though that’s exceedingly tricky).
If you put in gps coordinates, it will automatically pull the population within 30km.
More details here: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
If you put in gps coordinates, it will automatically pull the population within 30km.
More details here: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
I still need to do another attempt at validating the demand constant.
Arguably it should be closer to 100k than 200k, putting Indian ridership in the neighborhood of 5b
Arguably it should be closer to 100k than 200k, putting Indian ridership in the neighborhood of 5b
September 29, 2025 at 7:28 PM
I still need to do another attempt at validating the demand constant.
Arguably it should be closer to 100k than 200k, putting Indian ridership in the neighborhood of 5b
Arguably it should be closer to 100k than 200k, putting Indian ridership in the neighborhood of 5b
India is looking good (and indeed why I had to fix the performance issues): railmapper.net/project/indi...
September 29, 2025 at 10:30 AM
India is looking good (and indeed why I had to fix the performance issues): railmapper.net/project/indi...
I fixed the performance problem btw. Should no longer freeze with larger networks.
September 28, 2025 at 10:05 PM
I fixed the performance problem btw. Should no longer freeze with larger networks.
Yeah, fair enough. The default is Spanish levels ($25m). This route is probably $75m, if I had to guess.
September 7, 2025 at 9:49 PM
Yeah, fair enough. The default is Spanish levels ($25m). This route is probably $75m, if I had to guess.
Very nice! I do assume the construction costs per kilometer are set fairly low, given the loss margin is small?
September 7, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Very nice! I do assume the construction costs per kilometer are set fairly low, given the loss margin is small?
I don't know yet why orphaned routes are created in the first place, but I have put in safeguards to delete them when they happen so it should no longer crash the project. Let me know if you still run into this issue
September 4, 2025 at 9:43 PM
I don't know yet why orphaned routes are created in the first place, but I have put in safeguards to delete them when they happen so it should no longer crash the project. Let me know if you still run into this issue
My SoCal Regional HSR (or "higher speed rail") map. Yes, I know. Still!
railmapper.net/project/cc53...
Thanks @thijs.niks.nu
railmapper.net/project/cc53...
Thanks @thijs.niks.nu
September 4, 2025 at 5:19 PM
You can adjust the calibration constant on the config page to be somewhere in between the 20k international and 200k domestic it is by default
railmapper.net/project/late...
railmapper.net/project/late...
Rail Mapper
Design and analyze high speed rail networks
railmapper.net
September 3, 2025 at 7:31 AM
You can adjust the calibration constant on the config page to be somewhere in between the 20k international and 200k domestic it is by default
railmapper.net/project/late...
railmapper.net/project/late...
The EU border crossings perform very poorly, but Singapore/Malaysia may have more families living on both sides of the border?
September 3, 2025 at 5:12 AM
The EU border crossings perform very poorly, but Singapore/Malaysia may have more families living on both sides of the border?
You’re welcome!
You can build a lot of rail lines if your construction costs are low (just ask the French and Spanish).
California, though, builds at $125m per kilometer: www.latimes.com/california/s...
You can change your costs on the config page: railmapper.net/project/late...
You can build a lot of rail lines if your construction costs are low (just ask the French and Spanish).
California, though, builds at $125m per kilometer: www.latimes.com/california/s...
You can change your costs on the config page: railmapper.net/project/late...
Despite some progress, state's high-speed rail is $100 billion short and many years from reality
California's high-speed rail is a decade off-schedule and is expected to cost $100 billion more than initially planned.
www.latimes.com
September 2, 2025 at 10:10 PM
You’re welcome!
You can build a lot of rail lines if your construction costs are low (just ask the French and Spanish).
California, though, builds at $125m per kilometer: www.latimes.com/california/s...
You can change your costs on the config page: railmapper.net/project/late...
You can build a lot of rail lines if your construction costs are low (just ask the French and Spanish).
California, though, builds at $125m per kilometer: www.latimes.com/california/s...
You can change your costs on the config page: railmapper.net/project/late...
Neat! 30 million riders/year on my 5 minute DC-to-Chicago model.
September 2, 2025 at 10:07 PM
Continuing to have fun with this. This time it is Vietnam's proposed North–South Express Railway or Đường sắt cao tốc Bắc-Nam. Estimated to have 175-225 trains per day. Assumed 8 car CR400 trains running up to 350kph and Chinese fare rates.
September 2, 2025 at 8:15 PM
I put together an Egypt HSR system and I got 1.75 billion riders
(obviously the Egyptian public cannot afford first world HSR fares but hot damn)
(obviously the Egyptian public cannot afford first world HSR fares but hot damn)
September 2, 2025 at 8:15 PM
It has been great to see what people are already using it for: bsky.app/profile/nilo...
Fun tool southeast of Brazil network.
September 2, 2025 at 8:15 PM
It has been great to see what people are already using it for: bsky.app/profile/nilo...
Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.
Either put it as a comment in the document, reply to me on Twitter, or email me
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Either put it as a comment in the document, reply to me on Twitter, or email me
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Rail Mapper — Modeling High Speed Rail Networks Anywhere in the World
Rail Mapper — Modeling High Speed Rail Networks Anywhere in the World Thijs Niks, August 2025. Email me at thijs@niks.nu or find me on Twitter and BlueSky. Introduction This is an overview of how Rail...
docs.google.com
September 2, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.
Either put it as a comment in the document, reply to me on Twitter, or email me
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
Either put it as a comment in the document, reply to me on Twitter, or email me
docs.google.com/document/d/1...
And thank you to @cloudflare.social / @eastdakota.com for the free hosting on their Pages service!
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September 2, 2025 at 8:12 PM
And thank you to @cloudflare.social / @eastdakota.com for the free hosting on their Pages service!
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