Abstract This paper explores the role and capacity of strategic level assessments in addressing the strategic dimension of High Speed Rail (HSR) proposals and influencing decision-making processes. The overall research objective was to find out to what extent opportunities for strategic thinking are being undertaken in HSR. Three different cases of high speed rail were compared – High Speed Rail 2 (HS2) in the UK, High Speed Rail Network (RFAV) in Portugal and European Gauge Railway Line Kaunas in the Lithuanian-Latvian Border (Rail Baltica 2). Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) effectiveness literature was reviewed to draw on criteria that could establish a comparative framework to explain how environmental and sustainability assessments were undertaken in the three aforementioned European high speed rail case studies. Research results allow us to conclude that an SEA or a sustainability assessment/appraisal (SA) will be most beneficial if developed before any HSR project to first determine if HSR is really necessary and strategically justifiable to the achievement of both environmental and sustainability objectives. Results achieved suggest that even though the SEA and SA in the three cases studied can be said to have influenced the planning process mostly at project-level decisions, it also shows a missed opportunity to contribute to developing a high level strategy for HSR that addresses several strategic issues, assessing options before they are undertaken.

中文翻译：

---

欧盟成员国高速铁路比较战略评估

摘要 本文探讨了战略层面评估在解决高铁 (HSR) 提案的战略层面和影响决策过程方面的作用和能力。总体研究目标是找出高铁在多大程度上提供了战略思考机会。比较了三种不同的高速铁路案例——英国的高速铁路 2 (HS2)、葡萄牙的高速铁路网络 (RFAV) 和立陶宛-拉脱维亚边境的欧洲轨距铁路线考纳斯 (Rail Baltica 2)。对战略环境评估 (SEA) 有效性文献进行了审查，以利用可以建立比较框架的标准来解释上述三个欧洲高速铁路案例研究中如何进行环境和可持续性评估。研究结果使我们得出结论，如果在任何 HSR 项目之前制定 SEA 或可持续性评估/评估 (SA) 将是最有益的，以首先确定 HSR 是否真的有必要并且在战略上对实现环境和可持续性目标是合理的。取得的结果表明，即使在所研究的三个案例中，SEA 和 SA 可以说主要在项目层面的决策上影响了规划过程，但它也表明错失了为高铁制定高层次战略的机会，该战略解决了几个问题。战略问题，在实施之前评估选项。