SUMMARY
 
It is certain that the High Speed Rail is a success. In 1999, a fifth part of the offer of passanger's transportation in nine rail Administrations was based on high-speed services (almost 53.000 million passangers-km), maintaining a clearly growing tendency in the last years. At the moment, in Europe there are more than 3.000 km of new specially built lines to carry out these services and the predictions signs that this network will be 6.000 km in 2010. 
 
The success of the high-speed rail is based on the application of technological solutions contrasted on the three elements of the system: new specially built lines where it is possible to achieve speeds between 250 and 300 km/h; modern rail vehicles that allow to obtain these speeds with a high degree of comfort; and, finally, a specific operational system that allows to offer services of high frequency with some attractive fares. 
 
In this article the territorial consequences of some of the most significant high-speed international rail experiences are revised, with the purpose of extracting general rules that allow to meditate about the consequences of the rail planning in course in Spain.