High-speed Rail Research Articles

Study on the Influence of Spatial Attributes on Passengers’ Path Selection at Fengtai High-Speed Railway Station Based on Eye Tracking

The average daily throughput of large-scale passenger high-speed railway stations is large, and the design of the inbound space connecting with the underground and other modes of transport affects the passengers’ wayfinding behaviour and time spent, which in turn affects the efficiency of the inbound station. How to optimise the design of station entry space and signage arrangement becomes the key to shortening the station entry time. In this paper, eye tracking, spatial syntax, and semantic difference methods are used to evaluate the passenger’s wayfinding process in the underground hub of a large high-speed railway station and the spatial syntax is used to quantify and analyse the wayfinding path segments, to explore the influence of the spatial attributes of different nodes and the spatial arrangement of the guiding signs on the passenger’s wayfinding behaviour data and the difference in attention, and to find out that the connectivity of the wayfinding nodes, the area of the field of view, and the passengers’ The study concludes that the connectivity and visual field area of wayfinding nodes have a strong positive correlation with the passengers’ route choice time, which has less influence on the correct rate of wayfinding and can be taken into less consideration in the subsequent design. While analysing the spatial density of signs and the correct rate of wayfinding in the sample, it is concluded that the density of guide signs is maintained in the interval of 5–11‰, and at the same time, the number is sufficient to point to the destination is a more appropriate interval, and ultimately, the impact of the correct rate of wayfinding of the weighting of the following: signage focus on the time > density of information > density of key information > diameter of the pupil. The study analyses the influencing factors affecting passengers’ wayfinding behaviour from a human factors perspective and provides feedback on the design of underground entry spaces in large passenger high-speed rail stations.

Increasing the safety and security of strategic railway terminals through environmental and situational aspects

ABSTRACT Rail transport is a vital sub-sector of critical infrastructure (CI) in public transportation, primarily through high-speed rail for national and international travel. Strategic railway terminals, designed for high-capacity entry/exit of people and cargo, are key elements of CI. However, they are also considered soft targets due to threats like terrorism and criminal activity. Current directives, standards, and procedures are inadequate for protecting these publicly accessible spaces, which are also critical infrastructure elements (CIE). There are no specific security standards for the technical protection of strategic railway or transport terminals. In response, a methodological procedure has been developed to enhance protection levels. This procedure is based on the CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) concept, incorporating international standards for crime and terrorism prevention. It focuses on assessing the environmental and situational security of railway terminals and recommending additional technical measures to address gaps in protection.

Exploring the impacts of high-speed rail on technology-intensive manufacturing: the case of the Yangtze River Delta region, 2007–2016

High-speed rail (HSR) may influence economic activities that rely heavily on innovation by facilitating skilled labour, face-to-face interactions, and knowledge spillovers. This study explores how HSR development affects the spatial distribution of technology-intensive manufacturing (TIM) in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), China. Using a panel dataset including 24 cities for the period 2007–2016 and employing the output of communications equipment, computers, and other electronic equipment (CCOE) as a proxy for TIM’s economic productivity at the city level, we apply the staggered difference-in-differences (DID) and spatial Durbin model (SDM) to measure the impacts of HSR’s initial opening and connectivity on CCOE development and capture the spatial spillover effects of HSR connectivity. Our findings indicate that the initial opening of HSR and HSR connectivity are negatively associated with CCOE productivity in both DID and SDM. Additionally, the reduction of CCOE is more pronounced in cities with larger populations and higher levels of economy. Moreover, HSR has a more significant effect on CCOE than other manufacturing sectors. However, the spillover effects remain insignificant, indicating HSR’s limited impact on CCOE development in adjacent cities within the YRD.

A 2-D Vigilance Estimation Method for High-Speed Rail Drivers With Multimodal Sensors

A 2-D Vigilance Estimation Method for High-Speed Rail Drivers With Multimodal Sensors

Information acquisition and tax avoidance: Evidence from a natural experiment

AbstractAnalyzing the launch of high‐speed rail (HSR) services in China as a natural experiment, we identify a positive externality stemming from lower information acquisition costs: the reduction in firms’ overinvestment in tax avoidance. Specifically, we find that outsiders undertake more corporate site visits and firms engage in less tax avoidance after the opening of HSR lines in the cities where these firms are located, leading to enhanced firm value. In another result consistent with expectations, we document that the impact of the introduction of HSR lines on tax avoidance is concentrated in firms in which insiders exhibit a high propensity to extract rents through aggressive tax strategies. Our results imply that more efficient transportation facilitates site visits and the acquisition of firm‐specific information, particularly soft information. This improvement strengthens external monitoring, thereby limiting the ability of insiders to accumulate private benefits under the guise of tax avoidance that benefits all shareholders as the residual claimants.

Unveiling the green path: How urban openness reduces pollution and paves the way to sustainability

This study investigates the relationship between openness and pollutant emission intensity across 286 Chinese cities from 1990 to 2019, aiming to evaluate the potential environmental benefits of open economy strategies. The findings indicate that enhanced urban openness significantly lowers pollutant emission intensity. To ensure the robustness of our findings, we make an innovative attempt to employ high-speed rail connection and motorway density as instrumental variables to address potential endogeneity issues, corroborating the reliability of the results through various robustness tests. Moreover, we also find the heterogeneous effects of urban openness on pollution emissions, highlighting the moderating influences of trade complexity, urbanization level, and environmental regulatory intensity. Lastly, the study elucidates the mechanisms through which urban openness diminishes pollution emissions, namely fostering green innovation capacity and enhancing public environmental awareness. This research makes theoretical contributions on understanding the nexus between open economies and environmental protection while offering practical insights to inform governmental environmental policy formulation.

Research on ultrasonic guided wave-based high-speed turnout switch rail base flaw detection

Turnout switch rail fracture detection is currently a serious issue in the field of railway transportation. Guided wave detection, a non-destructive testing method, is a good way of studying this issue and looking for a suitable solution. For this paper, a guided wave mode and an excitation position were selected based on the phase velocity dispersion curve and the wave structure. After this, a model was devised for the turnout switch area using the finite element (FE) method. This model considered the straight switch rail, curved stock rail, bolt hole, spacer block, and sub-rail foundation, and verifies the validity of the simulation model through the experiment. The propagation characteristics of guided waves in the switch rail were then simulated in different fracturing states by means of a 30-kHz excitation applied vertically to the rail base. The results showed that a single mode of the guided wave could be generated by this excitation method, showing that it could be used as an effective means for fracture detection. The growth rate of the root-mean-square (RMS) value of the time-domain acceleration signal could then be analysed to identify the state of fracture in the straight switch rail. This discrimination method is suitable for finding fractures parallel to the rail cross-section with a width of 5 mm or more at the bottom of the straight switch rail.

High-speed railways reduces carbon emissions: mediating effects of green innovation and the resilience of environmental investment

High-speed rails (HSRs) are a sustainable approach in many cities. Although some studies recognize that introducing HSR is negatively related to carbon emissions, explorations of the mechanisms underlying this relationship remain scarce. The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether introducing HSR reduces carbon emissions through increasing green innovation (GI) and the resilience of environmental investment (REI). Employing signal theory and fault tolerance theory, among others, we propose models that illuminate how inaugurating HSRs reduces carbon emissions through GI and REI. Our proposed central hypothesis is that GI and REI mediate carbon emission reduction by introducing HSR. In this study, we used the data from 284 China’s cities during 2000-2021 and examined our hypothesis via a difference-in-differences (DID) model. The results show that introducing HSR reduces carbon emissions through GI and REI. On the basis of the current status of China’s economic and social development, we further analyze several critical moderating effects, such as the digital economy, the urban‒rural gap, and whether it is a resource-based city. In 2023, China’s Central Economic Work Conference (CEWC) explicitly proposed “developing the digital economy.” We find that the digital economy strengthens the negative relationship between introducing HSRs and carbon emissions. The digital economy also strengthens the positive correlation between the introduction of HSR and GI. Additionally, this strengthens the positive correlation between HSRs and REI. In addition, the urban‒rural disparity is a manifestation of China’s uneven development. We find that the urban‒rural disparity weakens the relationship between HSRs and carbon emissions. In addition, China’s resource-based cities lag behind other cities. Our findings suggest that, in contrast to other cities, high-speed rails increase carbon emissions in resource-based cities.

Impact of high-speed railway network improvement on consumption synergy in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

This paper investigates the impact of high-speed rail (HSR) network improvement on the consumption synergy of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region by using the panel data of 13 prefectural-level cities from 2006 to 2021. The results show that: (1) The improvement of the HSR network in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has a significant positive impact on raising overall regional consumption levels. (2) The HSR network improvement has a heterogeneous impact on consumption in different cities within the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. (3) The promotional effect on peripheral cities is greater than on central cities, thereby promoting the coordinated consumption development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The findings of this study have important policy implications, confirming that the construction of the HSR network can narrow the consumption gap within the region and promote consumption synergy across the region.

Carbody swaying suppression for a high-speed rail vehicle by utilising active lateral suspension control

This study proposes the use of active lateral secondary suspension (ALS) to address low-frequency carbody swaying in high-speed rail vehicles under low wheel-rail conicity conditions. Field experiments reveal lateral acceleration exceeding 0.10 g at a dominant frequency of 1.4 Hz, with a Sperling index exceeding 3.0 during carbody swaying occurs. By integrating field-measured wheel/rail profiles and yaw damper parameters into a multibody dynamics model of vehicle system, the coupling between bogie hunting and carbody yaw and upper-center roll modes is identified as the root cause of swaying. Evaluating classic sky-hook ALS controls, damping control proves highly effective. Doubling the damping coefficient and blow-off force becomes essential when only half of the four actuators per vehicle are active. Stiffness control adjusts carbody suspension modal characteristics to prevent resonances with the bogie hunting mode, effectively suppressing swaying. In contrast, inerter control exhibits limited efficacy. Semi-active control, with optimised gain settings, can also alleviate swaying, with control system delay identified as a critical factor, suggesting a 100 ms limit for effective swaying suppression.

Fatigue life assessment of thermite welded rails based on laboratory tests and field measurement data

This in-depth study assesses the fatigue life of thermite-welded 60E1 rails by combining fatigue experimental tests with field measurement data. Material characterization, conducted using X-ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Fluorescence (XRF), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), aimed to understand the fatigue behavior of these materials. The research was particularly focused on high-speed rail lines in South Korea, targeting areas with influence of track condition to collect strain data. By combining dynamic modulus calculations from high-speed tensile tests with the rain flow counting method for determining wheel loads, and employing the Linear Cumulative Damage method for estimating rail fatigue life, this study provides novel insights into the maintenance and durability of thermite welded rails. The integration of detailed laboratory experiments with field stress data offers a significant contribution to the predictive maintenance and lifecycle management of high-speed railway infrastructure.

Soft information monitoring along the supply chain: Customer geographic proximity and firms’ ESG performance

Previous research ignored the characteristics of environmental, social, and governance (ESG). ESG is soft information. Geographical proximity is important for external stakeholders to monitor firms' soft information. This study examines the impact of customer geographic proximity (CGP) on firms' ESG performance. We hand-collect data on the geographical distance of 29,111 pairs of Chinese A-share listed companies and their top-five customers from 2009 to 2022. First, we find that CGP promotes firms' ESG performance. The results still hold after considering the exogenous influence of the introduction of high-speed rail on CGP. Second, cross-sectional analysis shows that CGP exerts a more pronounced influence on firms with severe information asymmetry. Third, impact channel tests indicate that CGP promotes firms' ESG performance by increasing firms' cash flows. Fourth, the impact of CGP is more obvious when customers have stronger risk management motivation. Collectively, this study provides new insights into factors affecting firms’ ESG performance.

Can rural counties benefit from high-speed rail investments? The distributive economic impacts of constructing the Dallas-Houston line

High-speed rail (HSR) investments have demonstrated significant economic benefits in many regions around the world. However, there have been ongoing concerns over the potential unjust effects of HSR development on the rural areas where HSR routes traverse. In the United States, resistance from rural landowners is a major factor that has delayed or derailed numerous HSR projects. Understanding whether and how rural areas may or may not benefit from HSR investments helps facilitate timely project delivery and inform supplementary policymaking to achieve broader societal benefits. This paper presents a case study of the Dallas – Houston HSR line in Texas, USA, a proposed project with private investments totaling $16 billion from Texas Central Railroad, LLC. Applying Multi-Regional Input-Output (MRIO) modeling, the study estimates the economic impacts of investing in the Dallas-Houston HSR line and examines the spatial and sectoral distributions of the impacts across the rural counties along the project alignment. The privately funded Dallas – Houston HSR project stalled after a decade-long effort, largely due to opposition from the rural counties along the line. The recent formation of the Amtrak-Texas Central partnership has brought back hope to revive the HSR proposal. The findings of this study are informative for Amtrak-Texas Central to develop strategies that address the unbalanced rural–urban impacts of constructing the HSR line for ultimate project success.

Intelligent joint communication and computation scheme of UAV-assisted Offloading in high speed rail scenarios

With the continuous development of communication and computation technologies, large bandwidth services place higher demands on computing capacity and throughput in High-Speed Rail (HSR) scenarios. On the one hand, Millimetre-Wave enables high data transmission rates, but leads to high Doppler frequency deviation as well as large path loss. On the other hand, the development of Mobile Edge Computing greatly alleviates user computing congestion. In this paper, we propose the Adaptive Joint Communication and Computation Resource Allocation scheme to solve the energy optimization problem of a dual-band UAV and Mobile Relay relay-assisted HSR offloading system. This scheme works well to optimize the performance of the system through resource allocation. In addition, since the optimization problem is modeled as a Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Program, we propose the Pre- and Post-state connected Parameterized Deep Q-Network algorithm, which is based on Deep Reinforcement Learning approach, for offloading decision and bandwidth resource allocation. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms result in lower system energy consumption, while ensuring a high task completion rate as well.

Hidden emotional trends on social media regarding the Thailand–China high-speed railway project: a deep learning approach with ChatGPT integration

Leveraging sentiment analysis on social media reveals hidden emotional trends by providing deep insights into the public’s collective opinions and feelings because social media can reflect most opinions based on true feelings. However, there is no time-series analysis of Thai opinions on social media regarding government projects in Thailand. Therefore, the focus of this research is to survey and dynamically analyze sentiment on social media platforms, particularly YouTube, regarding the Thailand–China High-Speed Rail Project (Thai–China HSR Project). This is a major project involving an investment of over 500 billion baht, a collaborative effort between the Thai and Chinese governments aimed at developing transportation infrastructure. It leads the public concerns of Thai people about the potential economic and social impacts. The deep learning (DL) technique was used for this analysis by the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) model, together with WangchanBERTa, a Thai language model specifically designed to analyze opinions from Thai comments received from YouTube from July 2015 to January 2024. The analysis reveals that citizens’ sentiments are primarily neutral, with more negative than positive sentiments with the passing years. Results also indicate that the data volume has increased since 2019 and peaked in 2022. Negative comments peaked in January 2022, and based on our analysis, such negative comments followed news covering the opening of the China–Laos Railway on December 1, 2021. Video contents were related to the Thai–China HSR Project, which provides comparative reviews and analysis of government operations. Additionally, we explore the possibility of integrating AI technology based on the ChatGPT 4 model to support data interpretation. Although the AI model can interpret data quickly and efficiently serve as a convenient method for users, the results lack the in-depth analysis that should be done by experts in the field. The proposed framework could be useful to government agencies and can be used to quickly and efficiently survey and track public opinion. The results can be used for policy planning, strategic decision-making, and improving communications to better inform citizens about projects and operations, leading to the country’s sustainable economic and social development.

Remote high-speed rail stations, urban land supply, and the emergence of new economic activities

This study investigates the influence of high-speed rail (HSR) station placements on urban economic activities within cities. Specifically, we assess their effects on government-driven new land supply and market-driven emerging economic activities. Using data from 2007 to 2017, our analysis encompasses 720 HSR stations across 319 Chinese cities, with a focus on remote stations situated in the peripheral counties. Our findings reveal that remote HSR stations typically function as new city subcenters. They consistently drive the expansion of both land supply and economic activities (distance effect) and draw them toward the quadrant surrounding the station (direction effect). However, the alignment between their impacts on land supply and economic activities varies based on the city characteristics. In cities experiencing population declines, remote HSR stations notably affect land supply but have a negligible influence on economic activities, leading to resource misallocation and an increased risk of ghost towns. Furthermore, better HSR accessibility and higher tertiary industry proportions can magnify the spatial spillover effects of HSR station location on both land supply and economic activities.

Lateral Vibration Mitigation for Coupled High-Speed Rail Vehicle and Cable-Stayed Bridge System Subjected to Ground Motions

A semi-floating cable-stayed bridge can swing longitudinally to absorb seismic energy in an earthquake for the purpose of reducing structural response. However, the large transverse (lateral) seismic response of such large-span cable-stayed bridges must be controlled to avoid severe bridge damage and ensure train safety. This study investigates the dynamic response and associated damping mechanism of a coupled high-speed rail (HSR) vehicle and cable-stayed bridge system subjected to various ground motions. A comprehensive vehicle–track–bridge interaction system is first established. Then, the dynamics of a semi-floating cable-stayed bridge-HSR vehicle system equipped with magnetorheological bearings (MRBs) and fluid viscous dampers (FVDs) is examined with various inputs of near-fault (NF) pulse-type, NF non-pulse-type, and far-field (FF) ground motions. To effectively mitigate the bridge internal force response and enhance train running safety, the transverse and longitudinal FVDs need to be concurrently utilized along with MRBs. This research presents a novel mitigation approach for simultaneously reducing the transverse vibrations of cable-stayed bridge and the derailment risk of running train.

Conceiving Chinese Speed: Sociotechnical Imaginaries of High-Speed Rail in Post-1978 China

Conceiving Chinese Speed: Sociotechnical Imaginaries of High-Speed Rail in Post-1978 China

High-speed rail, resource allocation and haze pollution in China

The transport sector is crucial in influencing anthropogenic pollution. By employing Chinese prefecture-level city data from 2003 to 2019 and a sample of 443124 observations of industrial firms from 2003 to 2013, this paper treats the opening of high-speed rail (HSR) as a quasi-natural experiment and uses a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) method to investigate the impact of HSR on haze pollution. The findings reveal that (1) HSR has a significant negative effect on cities' PM2.5 concentrations, and the result is held after a series of robustness checks; (2) the analysis based on Chinese industrial firm data also yields significant results in reducing smoke and dust emissions by HSR, providing micro-level understanding for the main conclusion; (3) at the firm level, heterogeneity derives from firm ownership, location, and industry; (4) the reduction in industrial firms' labor and capital distortion and resource misallocation play a crucial role in the HSR's impact on mitigating haze pollution; (5) at the city level, HSR reduces haze pollution by improving overall resource allocation across cities, and promoting the flow of capital to cities that are more developed and have higher returns. These results indicate that recognizing the causal relationship between HSR and haze pollution and the impact mechanism poses policy implications for inter-city transportation infrastructure development and pollution control.

When green transportation backfires: High-speed rail's impact on transport-sector carbon emissions from 315 Chinese cities

High-speed rail is often viewed as a green transportation mode, substituting for carbon-intensive vehicular and aviation trips. However, its potential to induce additional travel demand and transport-sector carbon emissions has been largely overlooked. Here, we empirically examine the impacts of high-speed rail accessibility, the ease with which one city can reach other cities via the high-speed rail network, on transport-sector carbon emissions across 315 Chinese cities between 2010 and 2020, using a two-stage least squares model. Contrary to the anticipated emission-reduction effect, our analysis suggests a net positive impact of high-speed rail on transport-sector carbon emissions. Specifically, a 1% increase in high-speed rail accessibility leads to a 0.18% increase in transport-sector carbon emissions in the long run, as carbon emissions generated from induced travel demand have outweighed the carbon savings from substitution for carbon-intensive inter-city trips. This high-speed rail-induced increase in carbon emissions is observed in the road transport subsector, while the aviation subsector exhibits a compensatory reduction. Moreover, we find that integrating the high-speed rail network into local subway systems can curb the emission-intensifying effect, highlighting the importance of joint public transit planning. This study reveals an unexpected environmental impact of high-speed rail, conveying valuable insights into transport-sector decarbonization.