High-speed Rail Development In China Research Articles

Income allocation and distribution along with high-speed rail development in China

Previous studies have extensively examined the role of high-speed railways in economic growth from the view of economic geography but have largely overlooked their contribution as technological progress to wages and private savings. This study aims to fill this gap by analysing the association between high-speed rail, wages and private deposits in 284 Chinese prefectural-level cities from 2003 to 2018. Utilizing a difference-in-difference method and conducting robustness tests, we examine three potential mechanism channels in this association. Our findings reveal that the introduction of high-speed rail new stations has significantly boosted wage levels through employment effects and financial development effects. However, the opening of the new stations has led to a decrease in private savings. This can be attributed to the marginal absorption of increased wages by higher consumption levels facilitated by high-speed rail development. Additionally, high-speed rail development stimulates private capital investments growth in financial markets. In essence, the technological progress represented by high-speed rail alters residents' traditional investment behavior. Our finding suggests strong heterogeneity across regions and significant siphon effects across cities. This paper offers insights into the balanced development of wages and private deposits in China, highlighting the implications of high-speed rail for economic dynamics in the country.

High-speed rail network and regional convergence/divergence in industrial structure

Despite the large body of literature on the impact of high-speed rail (HSR) on regional economic development, less is known about how it acts as inter-regional linkages. We seek to enrich the literature by examining if HSR can support inter-regional learning and enable lagging regions to learn from advanced ones. Another feature that distinguishes our study from others is its focus on regional convergence/divergence in industrial structure, while most pay attention to that in GDP/incomes. We investigate the impact of HSR connection on the similarity of regional industrial structures during 2008–2015 in China using the multi-stage difference-in-differences and propensity score matching methods. The results suggest that there is a positive relationship between HSR connection and the similarity of a pair of cities’ industrial structures. The influence of HSR connection varies across time, and is contingent on the features of regions and industries. Econometric results show that it takes time for HSR connections to have some effects. Such effects also fade in the long run. Furthermore, HSR development in China has facilitated knowledge flows from developed, coastal regions to lagging, inland regions and then spread among the latter, especially in the case of high-complexity industries. Our research thus provides a more nuanced perspective to better understand the relationship between transport infrastructure and regional convergence/divergence.

Income Allocation and Distribution Along with High-Speed Rail Development in China

Income Allocation and Distribution Along with High-Speed Rail Development in China

Impact of high-speed rail on urban economic efficiency in China

The development of high-speed rail (HSR) plays an essential role in regional economic growth. HSR service facilitates labor mobility and intercity resource allocation and promotes industrial agglomeration. This paper examines a fundamental question related to large-scale HSR development in China: what is the impact of HSR development on urban economic efficiency? This question is investigated from three perspectives. Firstly, the role of HSR on regional economic efficiency is discussed theoretically from the perspective of an agglomeration economy. Secondly, a multi-phase Difference-in-Difference (DID) method was adopted to investigate whether the opening of HSR contributed to variations in urban economic efficiency. Thirdly, a threshold model was adopted to empirically examine the relationship between HSR service frequency and urban economic efficiency. The results show that the opening of HSR has a significant positive impact on urban economic efficiency; the longer the service is in operation, the higher the positive impact is. In addition, the opening of HSR was found to have a significant threshold effect on efficiency improvements in the service sector. In particular, the positive impact of HSR service frequency on urban economic efficiency is found to be two times larger in cities where the population density exceeds 763 people/km2 than other HSR cities with a density that is below the level. Overall, this study provides important implications for HSR operation and policymaking related to infrastructure planning and investment, which may facilitate more efficient economic growth among various cities.

How high-speed rail service development influenced commercial land market dynamics: A case study of Jiangsu province, China

The rapid expansion of China's high-speed rail (HSR) networks presents an opportunity to make urban economies more consumer-oriented. Many commercial and business districts have been planned in the areas surrounding stations. This study examines and critiques the impacts of HSR on commercial land markets in Jiangsu: a pioneering province for HSR development in China. After considering various locational and contextual factors, this study focuses specifically on how HSR stations and the frequency of train services have affected the dynamics of commercial land markets, using a spatial panel approach. The results show that the opening of HSR services has significantly impacted trade volumes, while the frequency of train services has significantly affected trade prices. Further analysis shows variation in the impacts of HSR stations and train service frequency on commercial land markets between Jiangsu's developed south and less-developed central and northern sub-regions. The findings suggest that the study of HSR impacts is sensitive to the selected spatial scale. Moreover, HSR development may not result in the creation of dynamic commercial economies for every city. Consequently, locally based policies are needed to take advantage of the transport-induced opportunities.

Trading off public values in High-Speed Rail development in China

Theory on how different public values are prioritized in transport infrastructure planning is growing increasingly sophisticated, but most of it has focused on Western countries. Its relevance to China is thus far unknown territory. In this article, we apply the theory on public values and the way various values are traded off against each other to the case of High-Speed Rail development in China. We develop a Public value tradeoff matrix enabling us to identify and measure the various public values at play and to establish what changes took place in the prioritization of various public values over time. In the history of HSR development in China, a shift from regional equity and safety througheconomic growth and speed to organizational efficiency and cooperation can be observed in the period before HSR took off in China until now. The trading off process takes place through different institutional paradigms and organizational mechanisms in China than in Europe and America, and occurs more at the strategic apex of the administrative hierarchy.

Impacts of high speed rail on railroad network accessibility in China

High speed rail (HSR) is changing the overall travel accessibility of cities in China. There have been a number of studies of high speed rail in China. However, detailed spatiotemporal accessibility pattern of cities affected by the operation of high speed rail in China has not been reported. This study takes a timetable-based accessibility evaluation approach to analyze the changes in travel time, travel cost, and distance accessibility for each of the four main stages of HSR development in China: no HSR service in Stage 1 before August 2008, several HSR lines in Stage 2 between August 2008 and July 2011, reduced operating speed of HSR trains in Stage 3 between August 2011 and November 2012, and addition of new HSR lines and reduction of ticket fares in Stage 4 between December 2012 and January 2013. In addition to the “corridor effect” and the “center-diffusion” pattern, this paper investigates the impacts of HSR on changes in in-vehicle travel time and out-of-vehicle travel time with respect to the policy changes that reduced the operating speed of HSR trains, rearranged the train timetable, and lowered the ticket fare on HSR trains. The analysis results indicate the spatiotemporal pattern of Chinese cities affected by these policy changes. This study is useful for assessing HSR impacts on the accessibility of various cities across China as well as serving as a decision-making support to policies related to adjustments of HSR operation and planning of future HSR routes by considering the existing HSR and non-HSR railway lines.

“Hop on board”: the importation and future development of high‐speed rail (HSR) in China

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe, as a case study, the recent developments in high‐speed rail (HSR) technological development and economic and business development in China.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use a descriptive case study design examining the factors behind the importation of foreign HSR technology and its development within the Chinese context. Various secondary sourced data are used to build the case that educational development in transportation technologies and strategic focus at the national level have created the ability to pursue the development and creation of a national strategic competency in HSR technology for the Chinese.FindingsThe authors find that a major factor behind HSR development in China appears to be the result of a need for the Chinese Government to build the competencies of strategic technologies at the national level. Given present usage levels of HSR, the internal development of HSR systems is not justified by the economic rationales of cheaper and more efficient transportation for the Chinese. However, the case does point out the importance of technological leapfrogging (or “hopping” over the competition, to use the analogy in the title). It is apparent in the case that Chinese engineering has advanced in such a way that it is not inconceivable that China may lead advanced technological state‐of‐the‐art designs in the near future. This building of national core competencies appears to be related to the increase in world‐class educational efforts. As such, the authors argue that the Chinese efforts in HSR are now described by fact‐based education and derivational innovation practices as illustrated in the staged model of innovation by Johnson and Weiss.Originality/valueThe case study is one of the first published in the academic management literature. It demonstrates the process of development of HSR in China and provides preliminary evidence of the importance of the educational and innovation practices in China on the development of an indigenous technological industry in the country.