A Sustainability Analysis on the Wuhan-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway in China

Abstract

This paper conducts a sustainability analysis on the newly opened Wuhan–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway (the Wuhan–Guangzhou Passenger Dedicated Line, or the Wuguang PDL) in China. This analysis focuses on the efficiency and equity aspects of this rail line's direct transportation impacts and indirect nontransportation impacts. The Wuguang PDL has significant transportation and nontransportation impacts on the cities and megaregions along the line. However, it still has generated geographic and social inequity issues yet to be addressed. Due to the opening of the Wuguang PDL, Hubei, Hunan, and Guangdong Provinces, along with the Wuhan, Changsha, and Pearl River Delta megaregions, will be more closely integrated with synergistic effects, although the benefits are still distributed unevenly across different regions.