The industrial impact of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail

Abstract

This paper focuses on 19 subdivided industries of city nodes around the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail (BSHSR). The effects of the BSHSR on different surrounding subdivided industries are compared and analyzed based on the agglomeration-diffusion theories. Several conclusions are drawn. First, with the operation of the BSHSR, the market potential of cities along the rail has improved in different degrees, and the location quotient of different subdivided industries has changed substantially. Second, the BSHSR results in an agglomeration effect on 11 subdivided industries among cities with a station (CWS), while the diffusion effect on 13 subdivided industries among cities without a station (CW-OS). Third, in the tertiary industry, nine of 14 subdivided industries experience an agglomeration trend in CWS, but a diffusion trend in CW-OS. However, the degree of the diffusion effect is larger than that of the agglomeration effect. This seems to indicate that CWS achieve industrial upgrades as a benefit of the BSHSR. Our research can enrich the economic and geographical study of space structure efficacy, as well as offer theoretical references for the organizational pattern of space structure. It also has practical significance for guiding the construction of high-speed rail and encouraging cities along the rail to make full use of development opportunities.