High-speed Rail Construction Research Articles

The impacts of high-speed rail on the transformation of resource-based cities in China: A market segmentation perspective

Numerous resource-based cities (RBC) in China are facing tremendous pressure on industrial transformation, while the large-scale construction and operation of high-speed rail (HSR) may alleviate the resource dependence of RBC by weakening regional market segmentation. On this basis, a quasi-natural experiment is conducted in 282 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2018 to verify the theoretical hypothesis. We get the following results: (1) the opening of high-speed rail has reduced the employment ratio of mining industries in resource-based cities by 2.0%, and the dependence on natural resources by 27.74%. (2) The opening of high-speed rail mainly promotes the transformation of resource-based cities from the mining industry to the tertiary industry, inducing employment ratio in the tertiary industry rises by 2.8%. (3) The heterogeneity tests suggest the central region and mature resource-based cities are the most susceptible, followed by the eastern region and declining resource-based cities. (4) Further mechanism tests hint that promoting individual employment and attracting foreign investment are the potential ways for the industrial transformation. Moreover, the opening of high-speed rail can reduce environmental pollution and energy consumption in resource-based cities. This work sheds light on the new strategy of resource-based cities' industrial transformation and enriches the research on high-speed rail and industrial transformation.

Geographic proximity and corporate investment efficiency: Evidence from high-speed rail construction in China

Applying the difference-in-differences method, we show that high-speed rail (HSR) construction improves investment efficiency in China. The effect is more pronounced for companies with low information transparency and low media coverage, suggesting that HSR can mitigate information asymmetry while reducing external regulatory costs. Our analysis also shows that the effect is more powerful for non-state-owned enterprises, high-growth firms, and those companies located in core cities. Overall, our findings suggest that HSR can improve investment efficiency by shortening the travel time between firms and their investors.

Does the development of China's high-speed rail improve the total-factor carbon productivity of cities?

China's high-speed rail (HSR) has developed expeditiously since the beginning of the 21st century, exerting significant influences on many aspects, such as economic development and residents' travel mode. Improving carbon productivity is one of the necessary measures to realize China's carbon neutrality goal, considering economic growth. However, previous researches have not dealt with the exact impact of HSR opening on carbon emission performance. This study seeks to fill this gap. Through the difference-in-differences (DID) model, we discover that the opening of HSR significantly improves the city's total-factor carbon productivity in China. In addition, the influencing mechanism and heterogeneity of the impact are discussed, and the polarization effect is also analyzed. Overall, this study strengthens the idea that HSR construction has positive environmental externalities. The insights gained from this study may be of assistance to accurately formulate policies related to HSR planning and construction in the future.

How does high-speed rail construction affect air pollutant emissions? Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration in China

Taking the construction of high-speed rail as a “quasi-natural experiment”, the panel data of 26 cities in the Yangtze River Delta from 2004 to 2018 were selected as samples, and a difference-in-differences model was constructed to study the impact of high-speed rail construction on air pollutant emissions. Furthermore, the meditating effect model and difference-in-differences model were built to explore the paths of high-speed railway construction affecting air pollutant emissions. According to the study, the construction of high-speed rail reduces industrial sulfur dioxide emissions and increases the emission of industrial smoke and dust, which are more obvious in areas with good economic conditions. The role of high-speed rail in reducing emissions is realized through the structure effect, technological effect and substitution effect. However, the construction/renovation process of high-speed rail lines or stations does increase the industrial smoke and dust emissions. In this study, the bidirectional effects of high-speed rail construction on different air pollutant emissions were identified, including the high-speed rail construction process into the research. Multiple paths of action were proposed, bridging the gap of existing studies. The study reveals that controlling the air pollution emissions throughout the full life cycle of the high-speed rail, from the construction process to its operation, was essential.

Does high-speed rail make firms cleaner in China?

With the firm level datasets from 2004 to 2014, this paper uses the difference in differences (DID) estimator to explore the effects of China's high-speed rail (HSR) on firms' environmental efficiency. We find that China's HSR lowered SO2 intensity (SO2 per unit output value) by approximately 7.9%. More importantly, firms reduce SO2 intensity mainly through innovation, productivity improvement, and the agglomeration of firms. Our additional analyses show that these observed effects of HSR are mainly driven by firms in core cities, while the environmental efficiency of firms in the peripheral cities seems to be unaffected. Heterogeneous effects indicate that the HSR has a more significant effect on dirty firms, state-owned firms, foreign firms, and large firms. Our results suggest that HSR construction could have contributed to the China's environmental governance.

Impact of High-Speed Rail Construction on the Environmental Sustainability of China’s Three Major Urban Agglomerations

Under the background of global warming, it is of great significance to explore how to realize environmentally sustainable development. This paper takes China’s three major urban agglomerations as the research objects: Yangtze River Delta, Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, and Pearl River Delta. Generally, we use carbon emission efficiency to represent the sustainable development of the environment. Then we use the city-level panel data of the three urban agglomerations from 2006 to 2019 to construct the slacks-based measure integrating data envelopment (SBM-DEA) model for calculating each city’s carbon dioxide emission efficiency. Finally, we construct the spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) model to explore the impact of high-speed rail construction on each urban agglomeration’s carbon dioxide emission efficiency and its internal mechanism. The findings are as follows: (1) On the whole, high-speed rail construction improves urban agglomerations’ carbon dioxide emission efficiency. Meanwhile, it has a positive spatial spillover effect on surrounding areas. (2) In terms of urban agglomerations, high-speed rail construction has significantly promoted carbon emission efficiency in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. However, it has had negative external effects on the surrounding areas. (3) From the perspective of mechanism analysis, the construction of high-speed rail has promoted manufacturing agglomeration in the Pearl River Delta region and, at the same time, has had a negative impact on the local carbon dioxide emission efficiency. This study has strong policy implications for promoting the sustainable development of the three major urban agglomerations.

Fiscal policy and the development of green transportation infrastructure: the case of China's high-speed railways

High-speed rail (HSR) has been highly valued as an accelerator of green economic growth. However, the difficulty in financing caused by the high investment demand and long construction cycle of high-speed rail is an ongoing dilemma facing the high-speed rail industry. Using data from Chinese cities from 2003 to 2018, this paper explores whether fiscal policy is conducive to solving financing problems for high-speed railway construction. At the same time, this paper investigates the economic and environmental benefits of high-speed rail construction investment for urban development. We find that fiscal policy helps reduce the financing cost of high-speed railway construction projects and attracts social capital, spurring investment in high-speed rail construction. When economic policy uncertainty rises, companies will choose more secure, "safe" investments to avoid potential risks, such as government-led high-speed rail construction projects, which has led to their further expansion. Regarding its economic effect, high-speed rail construction investment directly promotes urban productivity, investment scale, and industrial structure upgrades. Over the long term, investment in HSR construction helps curb urban pollutant emissions, thus contributing to urban eco-efficiency.

KEPENTINGAN INDONESIA TERHADAP JEPANG DALAM PROYEK KERETA CEPAT JAKARTA-SURABAYA

The high-speed train infrastructure project is not only seen as an economic issue, more than that, high-speed train technology has developed into a world political issue. Rivalry between countries and manufacturers of high-speed trains occurs in several regions of the world, one of which is Indonesia. The rivalry between China and Japan in the high-speed train provides an opportunity for Indonesia to play a role and maximize bargaining power to take advantage of the rivalry. Japan, which is Indonesia's strategic partner, received the opportunity to build the Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed train after previously losing to China in the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project. Using an international political economy approach, this paper will discuss the shape of Indonesia's interest in Japan in the Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed rail construction project. There are several things that are seen, namely Japan's strategic role for Indonesia in terms of investment, Japan's important role for Indonesia's economic growth, Indonesia's need for sustainable infrastructure development and regional connectivity, and the need for technology transfer aimed at building human resources and realizing the better transportation system.

High-speed rail, urban form, and regional innovation: a time-varying difference-in-differences approach

ABSTRACT China's high-speed rail (HSR) construction provides an ideal ‘quasi-natural experiment’ in which regional issues are investigated. This study explores how HSR affects innovation efficiency and explores the mediating effect of urban form. Based on panel data comprising 280 cities in China from 2006 to 2016, this study uses a time-varying difference-in-differences method to analyze whether HSR affects regional innovation, and it explores the mediating effect of urban form. The results show the following. (1) HSR significantly promotes regional innovation. The parallel trend test shows that the treatment group and the control group have the same trend before HSR construction. (2) Knowledge spillovers are important manifestations through which HSR promotes regional innovation. HSR can significantly improve the level of total factor productivity and human capital. (3) Urban form mediates the impact of HSR on regional innovation significantly, which varies across the different indexes of different urban forms.

Intercity innovation collaboration and the role of high-speed rail connections: evidence from Chinese co-patent data

ABSTRACT This study explores the extent to which changes in transport infrastructure counterbalance pre-existing geographical friction and foster innovation collaboration, using the Chinese high-speed rail (HSR) construction as a quasi-natural experiment. Using a comprehensive dataset of city-pair co-patents from 2005 to 2018, we show that HSR connections significantly increase intercity co-patents, patent quality and collaborative partnerships, and such effects are strongest for city-pairs within 250 km and decrease for longer distances. Moreover, the HSR effect is stronger for cities in similar institutional settings, indicating a negative moderating effect of institutional distance. Various robustness methods are used to confirm the validity of our findings.

Will the construction of high-speed rail accelerate urban land expansion? Evidences from Chinese cities

While the existing literature has investigated the influence of high-speed rail (HSR) on urban economic outcomes, relatively little is known about the influence of HSR on urban land expansion mainly due to the lack of long-term and high-resolution urban land use data. Taking an example of Chinese cities which have made tremendous progress in the construction of HSR during the last decade, this study empirically documents the impact of HSR on urban land growth of Chinese cities by using a panel dataset containing annual 30-m resolution impervious surface data and socioeconomic variables from 2003 to 2015. The influence of HSR on urban land use is estimated by combining the approaches of propensity score matching and difference-in-difference analysis. Our empirical findings indicate that HSR has a significant and positive influence on urban land expansion, suggesting that cities are expected to experience faster urban land growth after the construction of HSR. In addition, HSR facilitates faster urban land expansion for cities in central and western China than those in eastern China, and faster urban land expansion for cities with lower development levels than those with higher development levels. Policymakers may need to consider the heterogeneous impacts of HSR on urban land expansion when introducing HSR to promote urban land development.

Understanding the formation of City-HSR network: A case study of Yangtze River Delta, China

As an essential transportation infrastructure, high-speed rail (HSR) plays an important role in improving connections and economic efficiency among cities which has been proved by numerous studies. In turn, the cities’ economic development levels also influence the planning and construction of HSR. Several qualitative studies pointed out that some failed projects of HSR investment were attributed by the neglect of urban economic factors. However, there lacks a quantitative understanding of which specific city economic factors influence the formation of HSR networks and to what extent. This study intends to answer the questions by analyzing the formation process of HSR network under the influence of city economic development using a generative network model (GNM) and social network analysis. It focused on 20 cities in the Yangtze River Delta region of China and constructed a City-HSR network that coupled the city economic network and HSR network. Then, a GNM method considering transitivity, distance, boundary effect, and population, was used to generate simulated networks similar to the City-HSR network. The similarities in network metrics between the City-HSR network and the GNM networks were compared by the quadratic assignment procedure (QAP) method to determine the optimal GNM network. A sensitivity analysis was further conducted to investigate the impacts of the factors on the formation of HSR network. The results showed that GNM could simulate the observed City-HSR network with satisfactory performance, and the city population should be given priority when planning new HSR lines. This study proposed a research framework for exploring the interaction between the city economic network and HSR network and provided data-driven analyses for regional transport policy.

Evaluation and optimization analysis of high-speed rail network structure in Northeast China under the background of northeast revitalization

The construction of high-speed rail (HSR) network has promoted the social-economic ties of cities, accelerated the compression of time and space, and changed the pattern of regional development. In this paper, with the adoption of the operation frequency data of HSR from 12306 website, and based on the HSR connection strength model and social network analysis model, as well as according to the HSR connection strength, HSR network density, centrality, agglomeration subgroup, and other indicators, we analyzed the characteristics of HSR network structure in Northeast China. Results show that the number of HSR cities in Northeast China is small, cities in HSR network generally exhibit weak connectivity, and the existence of HSR network marginalizes cities such as Ulanhot, Baicheng, and Songyuan, which significantly reduce the overall network connectivity of Northeast China. The overall centrality of HSR network in Northeast China is characterized by “one axis, four edges”; specifically, the one axis is located in Harbin-Dalian transportation line and the four edges are located on both sides of the main axis of Harbin-Dalian transportation line. Eight agglomeration subgroups (four double city subgroups and four multi city subgroups) have formed in Northeast China. The core status of Shenyang in HSR network is improved significantly, and “one axis and two wings” HSR network in Liaoning Province is improved significantly. With the gradual expansion of Chaoyang-Fuxin, Dandong-Benxi, and Jilin-Yanji branch networks, the “point axis” HSR network mode in Northeast China has gradually developed and matured. In the future, it is recommended to rely on eight agglomerating subgroups to encrypt HSR network structure, create secondary node central cities, and gradually build a new pattern of opening up in Northeast China.

Small City Development in the Era of High-Speed Rail: A Study Based on Population Hollowing-out

The rapid development of high-speed rail has brought about the rapid development of the overall economy and the change of small cities. On the one hand, it is difficult to determine whether the opening of high-speed rail will serve as a “corridor” or an “engine” role for the development of small cities. On the other hand, the growing expansion of big cities is also squeezing the development space of smaller cities. In this context, whether small cities can take the opening of high-speed railway as an opportunity to give play to the advantages of high-speed rail in a larger scope and at a deeper level, and thereby get rid of the development dilemma caused by regional disadvantages, becomes a very realistic problem naturally. In addition, as a major improved public service, high-speed rail will affect people’s regional identity and willingness to settle down, and speed up the frequency and scope of population movement. Therefore, it is more worth studying to pay attention to the population flow in small cities in the era of high-speed rail. Therefore, this paper takes the sample panel data of small cities from 2010 to 2018 as the research object, and adopts the research method of PSM-DID to discuss the impact of high-speed rail opening on the population hollowing-out in small cities and its internal influence mechanism. It is found that the opening of high-speed rail reduces the size of permanent resident population in small cities significantly, so small cities face the risk of population hollowing-out. Through the heterogeneity analysis, this paper finds that for small cities of different sizes, the degree of population loss caused by high-speed rail operation is also different. The results show that the population loss of small cities with an urban population of 0-200 thousand is much lower than that of small cities with an urban population of 200-500 thousand. The mechanism test results show that high-speed rail causes the population hollowing-out in small cities by leading to the outflow of consumer demand, the lag of industrial structure upgrading and the increase of housing prices. Further research finds that the construction of high-speed rail does not lead to a gap in economic growth between small cities with high-speed rail and those without high-speed rail. At the same time, the internal growth gap between small cities with high-speed rail has not been effectively verified. The possible contributions are as follows: First, it broadens the research scope of existing literature, which focuses on the analysis of the impact of high-speed rail opening on central and regional cities, or the impact on the surrounding cities of a high-speed rail line. However, there is a lack of research on the impact of cities of the same scale, especially the quantitative research on the development of small cities by the opening of high-speed rail. Based on the sample panel data of small cities, this paper adopts the PSM-DID method to focus on the study of the impact of high-speed rail opening on population hollowing-out in small cities, which can effectively alleviate the impact of the omission of important variables and systematic bias on the results. Second, it reveals the internal influence mechanisms of population outflow from small cities caused by the opening of high-speed rail. Among them, the outflow of consumption demand in small cities caused by high-speed rail, the lag of industrial structure upgrading, and the increase of housing prices are the important ways to cause population hollowing-out.

Environmental Engineering Deformation Control of High-speed Railway Shield Tunnel Under Crossing Bridge Piles

With the continuous acceleration of my country’s high-speed rail construction, it is inevitable to cross the existing engineering structure during the construction process. During the construction of high-speed railway, the control of the influence and deformation of the existing structure is a subject that needs to be studied in environmental engineering. Hangzhou metro line 1 is designed to cross under the Hu-Hang high-speed railway. According to the design, the shield tunnel is very close (minimum distance 5.19m) to the bridge piles of the Hu-Hang high-speed railway. Therefore, how to control the deformation of the bridge piles is a big problem in the shield tunnel excavation. Before construction, the method of the bored piles coupled with the jet grouting piles was proposed. The 3D numerical model was built to study the deformation of the bridge piles with the cases of the shield tunnel excavation without soil consolidation, the construction of the bored piles coupled with the jet grouting piles and the shield tunnel excavation with soil consolidation. The results show that the method of the bored piles coupled with the jet grouting piles can control the deformation of the bridge piles in the shield tunnel excavation effectively. Then, the deformation monitoring of the bridge piles was performed in the process of construction. The monitored data were close to the calculated results, which implies that the method of the bored piles coupled with the jet grouting piles is effective.

Impacts of high-speed rail construction on land prices in urban agglomerations: Evidence from Kyushu in Japan

High-speed rail integrates regions and cities, and thus can possibly have significant impacts on the distribution of economic activities. Using the opening and extensions of a high-speed rail, Shinkansen, in Kyushu, Japan, we examine its effects on land prices in urban agglomerations, which would reflect changes in the distribution of economic activities across urban agglomerations. We estimate hedonic price equations to conduct a difference-in-differences analysis. We find that the large metropolitan areas gained from the high-speed rail by experiencing increases in land prices, whereas small metropolitan areas located between them lost by experiencing decreased land prices. However, such positive effects are shown to be limited to areas close to Shinkansen stations.

The Spatial Structure Evolution of China's High-Speed Rail Network and Its Impacts on Real Estate Investment

The construction of China's large-scale high-speed rail (HSR) could exert a significant impact on the connectivity of urban networks in the long run. Through the dominance index of city nodes and the strength index of city links, the evolution of Chinese HSR networks has been explored based on frequency flow data from 2007 to 2017. Meanwhile, this paper uses a spatial econometric model to test the impact of the evolution of HSR networks on real estate investment agglomeration. Our examination shows that, as China's HSR network expands spatially, connectivity between cities improves, and the spatial structure of China's urban systems tends to be less hierarchical and polycentric. HSR networks promote the spatial agglomeration of real estate investment in cities connected by HSR. Although the influence of population scale, manufacturing scale, per capita GDP, and the degree of openness on real estate investment is greater than that of HSR network connection, the impact of the proportion of residential (commercial service) land and per capita GDP on real estate investment is less than that of HSR network connection. China's HSR network connection can expand the spatial agglomeration effect of site cities' real estate investment. The urban land use structure, such as the proportion of residential (commercial) land and the degree of openness, can promote a spatial spillover effect of real estate investment.

Being a Chinese Passenger: Practicing Quality and Civilization on the Rail

This article examines how everyday practices materialize abstract discourses of social “quality” within the spaces of the Chinese rail system. Rail travel remains a primary mode of transportation in China, competitive on cost and comfort—though not at the same time. This article brings together geographies of skill and mobility to examine how the skilled practice of rail travel produces high and low “quality” bodies and spaces within the rail network. Drawing on Ingold’s “dwelling perspective” to shed light on how movement creates cultural landscape at the national scale, I argue that the growing socio-economic gap within China has led to the emergence of distinct and incompatible traveling practices within the rail ridership. The conflict between a “lacking” ridership relying on mutual tolerance and a “quality” ridership prioritizing self-containment been resolved by the construction of high-speed rail as a separate network, segregating “high” and “low” quality riderships while still serving both.

Public-private partnership in high-speed rail financing: Case of uncertain regional economic spillovers in China

Abstract This paper sets up an integrated economic model to analyze an optimal public-private partnership (PPP) in financing a high-speed rail (HSR) project. The model considers the HSR's spillover onto the regional economy, which is uncertain in terms of both the direction (i.e., benefiting or harming the regional economy) and magnitude. The optimal private ownership is found to increase with the expected value of the marginal economic spillover of HSR traffic. In view of the risk sharing, the government also raises the private ownership when there is a higher uncertainty concerning the marginal spillover. However, when either the expected value of the marginal spillover or its uncertainty gets too high, the government may choose not to adopt PPP, but rather to entirely finance HSR projects with public funds. Essentially, in this case, PPP would require too much private ownership and as a result, seriously reduce social welfare. Finally, we apply our analytical results to offer an explanation for why China has so far implemented PPP for HSR construction only in its eastern/coastal regions.

Two sides of the economic effects of high-speed rail construction on small and medium-sized cities and its countermeasures

With the opening of high-speed rail since 2008,China has entered the era of high-speed rail.The rapid development of high-speed rail has effectively broken through the bottleneck of insufficient capacity in China,which has produced a host of positive effects and made great contributions to China’s economic development.However,the research shows that the rapid development of high-speed rail construction is greatly beneficial to the large cities,but its impact on small and medium-sized cities along the way is yet to be discussed.Therefore,it is necessary to explore the economic effects of high-speed rail construction on small and mediumsized cities and effectively deal with the negative impact brought by high-speed rail.