Development Of Rail Networks Research Articles

The adjusted passenger transportation efficiency of nine airports in China with consideration of the impact of high-speed rail network development: A two-step DEA-OLS method

This paper presents a two-step method combining data envelopment analysis (DEA) and an ordinary least squares (OLS) model to analyze the passenger transportation efficiency (PTE) of nine airports in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China, and their evolution trends from 2008 to 2019. As the first step, taking the mileage of China's high-speed rail (HSR) as an external variable, a three-stage DEA was employed to obtain the adjusted airport's PTE after eliminating the impact of HSR. As the second step, a single-logarithmic OLS model was used to analyze the influence of the urban economic structure on deviations in airports' PTE before and after the adjustment, providing a clear and straightforward basis for formulating and testing policies. The essential findings included the following: (1) the development of HSR mainly inhibited the PTE of most airports due to their competition but also promoted PTE in a few airports for short periods due to their partnership; (2) various factors of the urban economic structure had different impacts on the adjusted airport's PTE and determined the trend over time.

Influence of link-addition strategies on network balance and passenger experience in rail networks

The performance of a network can be enhanced by adding links. The importance of the rail network augmentation scheme comparison is brought into the forefront because of the long lead time and disproportionate high cost. This work focuses on the influence of the addition link among the initial railway stations on passenger flow. The effectiveness of the network was evaluated by flow imbalance (FIB), average transfer times (ATT), average path length (APL), and the combined evaluation using three different strategies, namely, passenger flow load — subgraphs highest node (PFL-S), passenger flow load — least load (PFL-L), and node degree and betweenness centrality (Degree-BC). The case study on the real urban rail network with 2,211,468 trip records a day at 339 stations show that PFL-S and PFL-L have better performance than Degree-BC. Simulation experiments reveal that the link construction investment at the early stage during the expanding or in the network with less existing transfer stations for the same size can receive greater returns than those nearly completed networks. The proposed method not only provides a policy guidance for the sustainable development of rail networks but also offers a reference for other networks with limited flow loading capacity and high-cost constraints.

High-speed rail network development effects on the growth and spatial dynamics of knowledge-intensive economy in major cities of China

The development of high-speed rail (HSR) is a key component of China's overall economic development policy. HSR generates external effects across economic sectors and has the potential to transform spatial-economies. Understanding these effects is, therefore crucial for long-term urban and regional development policy and planning. This paper examines the effect of HSR development on the growth and spatial dynamics of knowledge-intensive economy (KE) in major cities of China. The analysis does not only adopt the widely used proxy of total length of HRS network, but it also includes the frequency of HSR services and its interactions with network length. HSR effects on: (a) absolute KE employment growth (b) KE spatial concentration and (c) KE regional specialisation are examined, controlling for relevant socio-economic variables. The results show that HSR network development and service frequency had varying effects on KE growth and spatial dynamics at multiple spatial scales. At the national level, HSR service frequency positively affected KE employment growth, concertation and specialisation, while HSR network expansion had a small but negative association with KE regional specialisation. Among the three main regions of China, positive effects of HSR service frequency were evident in the more prosperous eastern region. In contrast, effects were negligible in the less-developed central region. The results show that HSR development combines with existing favourable regional economic conditions to generate more growth in historically prosperous regions, thereby entrenching existing economic development imbalances. These insights could inform long-term strategic regional development policy to reduce uneven development outcomes in China.

Impact of high-speed rail network development on airport traffic and traffic distribution: Evidence from China and Japan

We explore the impacts of high-speed rail (HSR) development on airport-level traffic by considering not only the availability of air-HSR intermodal linkage between the airport and HSR station but also the position of the airport’s city in the HSR network. The latter is measured by both the degree centrality (to reflect connectivity) and the harmonic centrality (to reflect accessibility). Using a sample of 46 airports in China and a sample of 16 airports in Japan over the period of 2007–2015, we conduct regression analysis and compare the effects of HSR network development on airports in these two Northeast Asian countries. We find that as HSR connectivity or accessibility increases, there is, on average, a decline in airports’ domestic and total traffic in China but little change in Japan. Meanwhile, we observe a strong complementary effect of HSR to feed international flights with the presence of air-HSR intermodal linkage. As a result, some airports may experience a total traffic increase. In China, hub airports tend to gain traffic regardless the availability of air-HSR linkage, while non-hub airports are likely to lose. In Japan, on the other hand, airports with air-HSR linkage tend to gain traffic regardless the hub status. Our analysis also reveals some differentiated impacts of HSR connectivity and accessibility in China. An important policy implication is that the investment in air-HSR intermodal linkage at busy airports may not help with realizing the benefit of congestion mitigation and emission reduction. Rather, policy makers may invest air-HSR linkage at regional airports which have the potential to be converted into international gateway hubs.

Impact of High-Speed Rail Network Development on Airports: Evidence from China and Japan

We explore the impacts of high-speed rail (HSR) developments on airport-level traffic by considering not only the availability of air-HSR intermodal linkage between the airport and HSR station but also the position of the airport’s city in the HSR network. The latter is measured by both the degree centrality (to reflect connectivity) and the harmonic centrality (to reflect accessibility). Using a sample of 46 airports in China and a sample of 16 airports in Japan over the period of 2007-2015, we conduct regression analysis and compare the effects of HSR network development on airports in these two Northeast Asian countries. We find that as HSR connectivity or accessibility increases, there is, on average, a decline in airports’ domestic and total traffic in China but little change in Japan. Meanwhile, we observe a strong traffic feeding effect of HSR: that is, hub airports may experience a total traffic increase, and the magnitude is larger when air-HSR intermodal linkage is available. On the other hand, non-hub airports without air-HSR linkage experience the most traffic reduction in China, but they experience little total traffic change in Japan. Our analysis also reveals some differentiated impacts of HSR connectivity and accessibility, especially in China.

High-speed rail network development and winner and loser cities in megaregions: The case study of Yangtze River Delta, China

Using a door-to-door approach to integrate inter- and intra-city travel times, this paper simulates the changes in regional territorial and population accessibility, spatial equity, as well as the winner and loser cities resulting from High-speed rail (HSR) network development in the Yangtze River Delta, China. HSR network development has a minimal effect on decreasing the disparity in overall territorial accessibility but leads to an obvious decrease in the disparity in population accessibility. Seven types of winner and loser cities are summarised according to their net winner population and stations locations. Poor access to the city center from HSR stations is a common issue for many cities in the YRD, and more integrated development is needed for future HSR planning and construction.

Use of isochrone maps to assess the impact of high-speed rail network development on journey times: a case study of Nanjing city, Jiangsu province, China

ABSTRACTIt is well known that the increasing development of transport infrastructure will result in temporal and spatial convergence. As an important component of China’s high-speed rail (HSR) network, an ambitious HSR building program in Jiangsu province will extend the network to cover all cities and 95% of counties by 2030. This study aims to present and analyze the impacts of the evolving HSR network in Jiangsu province over the period of 2010–2030 by developing multi-phased isochrone maps of Nanjing city (the provincial capital of Jiangsu province). During the process, layered cost distance, a new method based on a door-to-door approach in actual travel time calculations, is proposed in order to draw the maps at a more detailed geographical level. Our results are expected to facilitate proactive public policy decisions related to improving the transport network.

The Division of Labor is Limited by the Extent of the Market

The Division of Labor is Limited by the Extent of the Market