Many High-Speed Rail (HSR) projects exist in Europe and elsewhere in the world and generate many expectations of stakeholders in local economic areas. But their effects are controversial. There is a gap between academic literature (AL) and non-academic literature (NAL). The aim of the paper is to present a review of both kinds of literature because the effects of HSR are far from being a closed debate in AL. We highlight the relative proximity between AL and the stakeholders' expectations in local economic areas. We emphasize however the more general characteristics of the effects mentioned by NAL which appear to be a first explanation of the continuity of this controversy. We also show that AL identifies some extremely diverse and often more precise conditions for these effects, which are only partially presented in NAL. The area stakeholders omit the specificities of local areas and the largely contextualized effects and conditions. Another explanation could be that although AL puts the effects into perspective, it does not really question the effects. It supposes that, in specific cases, there will be effects if the conditions are present. The myth according to which automatic effects of High-Speed Rail on local economic development will occur can then continue to exist. But there is a risk to generalize conclusions that are linked to particular cases in terms of the economic situation, the geographical location, the quality of the service, attendance, specific resources and the actors' strategies, etc.
