HSR Station Research Articles

Analysis of place function and spatial distribution on HSR station area: A case study of Jinanxi Station

The HSR station area not only assumes the function of the city’s external communication, but also is an important public space, which plays an important role in the urban development. Based on the relevant theories, this paper analyzes and evaluates the status quo of the site functions in the Jinanxi Station area by combining the on-site survey and POI data. It is concluded that the site functions in the Jinanxi Station area are formed relatively slowly, with strong characteristics of circle structure and single residential function, showing unbalanced characteristics, but it will have huge space for future development. So in order to achieve an integrated development between station and city, it should avoid a single residential function, and achieve diversified functional development, require planning guidance and government guidance as well as further support and orderly promotion of policy funds.

Evaluation of Sustainable Development Potential of High-Speed Railway Station Areas Based on “Node-Place-Industry” Model

The development of the HSR station area is the result of the combined effect of the three elements of transport, place, and industry. This study introduces the industrial dimension and constructs the node-place-industry model to empirically analyze the development potential of station areas along the Hunan section of the Beijing–Guangzhou and the Shanghai–Kunming high-speed railway lines. The results show that (1) the development of the three spatial elements of the station area is mostly out of sync, and the node value has the highest fit with the integrated potential value of the station area; (2) there is a significant correlation between the magnitude of the combined potential of the station area and the site location, station class and time of development; (3) according to the results of the cluster analysis, it was found that most of the stations were in a state of disequilibrium, and the main reason was that the functional value of the place did not match with the value of industrial aggregation. In particular, the introduction of the industry dimension extends the NP model and establishes a tessellated analytical framework for station type classification, providing an interesting assessment tool for the sustainable development of transport hub areas.

Policy impacts on the propensity to travel by HSR in the Amsterdam – London market

This paper investigates the impacts of possible measures to enhance HSR market share in the London-Amsterdam market. To this aim, we adopted a two-level aggregate nested logit model able to jointly model trip distribution and trip generation, thus taking into account that the tested policies may increase or decrease the overall demand. The model was applied to an extensive dataset about passenger flows traveling between London airports and HSR station and Amsterdam in the period 2015–2019. The results show that both the reduction of HSR fares and the application of an air ticket tax, albeit with different impacts in terms of stimulus or reduction effect on overall demand, are ineffective in increasing HSR market share, if not adequately supported by improving HSR service. Increasing HSR frequency and reducing HSR travel times constitute the best opportunities to increase HSR ridership by stimulating a higher substitution effect than modifications in relative fares. Lastly, the recent queueing at airports, following staff shortages and strikes, significantly lower air transport demand and potentially has a substantial upward effect on HSR market share.

Analysis of Sustainable Urban Landscape in Karawang HSR Station Area

This research presents a qualitative study that examined the sustainable urban landscape based on the land value aspect by mapping the potentials of an area in the land value by synthesizing the results of a theory on specific factors that affect land values in examining the spatial direction of land value determination by mapping the potentials of an area of land value. This study looks from a different perspective. In previous studies, it was seen how land use could change prices, but in this study, it is more seen how land value maps can also map the spatial changes of a city. Future researchers are encouraged to confirm the results of this finding in quantitative research that links the determinants of land value which can be later used to calculate the value of vacant lands.

Rules for the Governance of Transport and Land use Integration in High-speed Railway Station Areas in China: The Case of Lanzhou

ABSTRACT The rapid high-speed railway development in China has faced many institutional challenges for the integrated development of transport and land use in station areas. This paper aims to gain insight into the institutional rules that structure the actors’ interactions and how they influence the integrated development in station areas. The Institutional Analysis and Development framework has been applied to a specific action situation, named Lanzhou West HSR station area in China. The findings from interviews, document analysis, and field visits reveal that Chinese institutional rules obstruct interactions between actors, thereby hampering the integrated development of functions in HSR station areas.

High-Speed Rail Station Interconnectivity and Ridership

The objective of this study was to quantify multimodal connectivity of HSR stations and its impact on ridership in four countries: France, Spain, Japan and China. In this study, multimodal connectivity is measured by the number of different modes of transportation connected to HSR stations, the number of installed arrival and departure facilities for each mode, the transfer time from connecting modes to boarding platforms at HSR stations, and the arrival time intervals of public transportation modes. Data were collected from HSR systems of these four countries. The relationship between ridership and the characteristics of multimodal connectivity was identified using regression models developed in this study. All the connectivity variables considered in this study influence ridership in these four countries in different ways. On the whole, bus, subway, and regional railroad services influence ridership significantly. For instance, the more bus services connected to the station, the higher the ridership. This trend is apparent in three of the four countries, France being the exception. Also, subway, light rail, and traditional rail are modes of high-capacity transportation. Their connection to HSR stations always implies high ridership for high-speed rail. The number of facilities also shows significant impacts on HSR ridership. For instance, the more bus and subway stops, and the more bicycle parking and taxi stands, the higher the ridership. Transfer time also has a significant influence.

Does high-speed rail stimulate urban land growth? Experience from China

This paper aims to measure the impact of HSR on urban land growth and to explore how the impact varies between different types of cites. Since HSR route planning decisions are influenced by the economic status of cities en route, whether a city gets an HSR station is likely to be endogenous to its economic growth and land development rate. To address this endogeneity, we adopt a Two-period Panel Data Instrumental Variable model using post road network in the Ming Dynasty and locations of military bases as instrumental variables. Results show that being connected to the HSR network on average leads to a 11.2% faster rate of growth of urban built-up areas. More interestingly, we document substantial heterogeneity in this impact based on the size and location of cities. Causes and mechanism for such heterogeneity are also elaborated, together with the policy and planning implications.

Does high-speed rail development affect airport productivity? Evidence from China and Japan

This paper examines the effects of HSR development on airport technical efficiency and the labor productivity at airports. Existing literature mainly focuses on the impacts of HSR on passenger traffic. In addition to passengers, HSR development may influence airports' other outputs such as cargo and flight movements together with various inputs. These inputs and outputs collectively determine airports' technical efficiency. With access to a dataset consisting of 46 Chinese airports and 16 Japanese airports from 2007 to 2015, the paper firstly adopts both the standard two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and double bootstrap methods to evaluate the impacts of HSR development on airports’ technical efficiency. We then evaluate the effects of HSR on airport labor productivity which is measured by both work-load units per employee and aircraft movements per employee. Our main findings indicate that HSR development relates to a decline in airport efficiency. Airports located in cities that have better connectivity or accessibility in the HSR network suffer more efficiency loss than the others. It is also observed that the locational advantage of HSR stations relative to airports is negatively associated with airport efficiency. By contrast, good intermodal linkage between the airport and its nearest HSR station is positively correlated with airport efficiency. Furthermore, the study reports different results between China and Japan with respect to the effects of HSR on labor productivity.

The Heterogeneous Economic Impacts of Distance to High-Speed Railway Stations in China

With the rapid development of High-speed Railway worldwide, particularly in China, its economic effect is increasingly prominent. In this paper, we claimed that the distance to HSR station rather than HSR connection affects its economic influence by examining the panel data of 333 prefectures during 1999-2013 in China. It is shown that cities would receive positive and significant economic gains if the distance between cities administrative center and the nearest HSR station is less than 10km. To address the potential endogenous problem, a least cost spanning tree network IV strategy based on Faber (2014) is adopted and further confirmed the robustness. Our finding provides scientific evidence of HSR station's location planning and is promising to optimize HSR's structural layout.

Exploring the Association of the Built Environment, Accessibility and Commuting Frequency with the Travel Times of High-Speed Rail Commuters: Evidence from China

This paper explores door-to-door commuting pa erns and the way commuting time is associated with three factors: the built environment, transport mode (from residence and workplace to HSR stations), and commute frequency. Econometric and statistical analyses are employed to examine evidence from China that draws on a survey targeting Suzhou-based HSR commuters who travel to work in Shanghai. The findings present three major points. First, a dense urban environment around residence and workplace is associated with reduced commuting time to high-density healthcare facilities (Suzhou and Shanghai) and financial institutions (Shanghai only). However, the density of public transport facilities near both residence and workplace has no association with commuting time. Second, taking the metro to and from HSR stations shows signi ficant association with increased commuting time for the first and last miles, while walking from HSR stations to the workplace shows signi ficant reduction of commuting time. Third, daily commuting is associated with reduced commuting time in the first mile, while weekly commuting is reversely related to longer commuting time in the last mile, which is coupled with a shorter commuting time for the first mile than the last mile. These findings lead us to conclude that reducing the total commuting time for a door-to-door journey is a key factor in associated commuting pa erns, commuting frequency, and travel mode choice. This re flects the choices commuters make in relation to where they live rather than where they work, which off ers fewer options. A longer last mile relates to a weekly commuting pa ern rather than a daily commuting. The current public metro systems in both home and work cities appear to be lengthy and inefficient. Transitoriented and integrated development is required to provide more efficient experiences for commuters.

Evaluating the impact of high-speed rail on county-level air quality in China

HSR can improve air quality at the city-level, but it is still a lack of evidence from the county-level. Due to the spatial interaction effect of air quality, the spatial econometric method is selected. Based on Air Quality Index (AQI) daily panel data of 47 counties in southern Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) from 2014 to 2017, Spatial Lag Model (SLM) and Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) are used to study the impact of HSR on county-level air quality. We found that: (1) air quality has a significant spatial spillover effect. (2) During the observation period, an HSR station can improve the air quality of the local county, but it will not affect the neighboring counties in the short run. (3) HSR does not produce a significant “corridor effect” on the air quality along the route. This paper provides some policy implications for the improvement of county-level air quality and planning of HSR.

Exploring the physical and mental health of high-speed rail commuters: Suzhou-Shanghai inter-city commuting

IntroductionHigh-speed rail (HSR), with its remarkable time-space shrinkage, has potentially enlarged labour market catchment areas and encouraged inter-city commuting; much literature, however, links long-distance commutes with health risks. MethodsThis study develops a conceptual framework in which a set of HSR-informed independent variables (shift in long-commute modes, transfer modes and travel time to and from HSR stations, job prospects and living conditions, and socio-economic attributes) are explored to discern physical and mental health variations. Ordinal logistic regression models are used to analyse 288 questionnaire samples from a cross-sectional study of HSR commuters travelling between Suzhou and Shanghai, China. ResultsGaining insight into factors associated with HSR commuters’ physical and mental health, the findings from descriptive analyses reveal a slightly negative association. While travel-related instrumental factors (shift long commute from non-HSR to HSR, active transfer modes, shorter travel times to and from HSR stations) and noninstrumental factors (intimate family and social relationships) show significantly positive health benefits, commuters, such as technicians and professionals, with low rent/mortgage levels (implying lower quality of residence and relative inability to afford home ownership), report significantly negative associations with their health. ConclusionThis paper concludes that HSR commuting requires personal commitment and a healthy work/life balance. Association with physical and mental health reflects a combination of structural inequality and personal travel experiences and living conditions. To promote the health of HSR commuters, a coordinated spatial-economic strategy at the mega-city regional level should be implemented to improve distribution of employment opportunities and consider users’ perspectives on long-distance commuting, taking a holistic approach to door-to-door travel, infrastructure provision, and services operation.

The varying effects of accessing high-speed rail system on China’s county development: A geographically weighted panel regression analysis

The construction of high-speed rail in China was initiated to answer increasing demand for fast and convenient transportation systems connecting large economic centers. After the first high-speed rail was open for operation and the initial adjustment period, access to high-speed rail starts to bring fundamental changes in regional economic operation modes in China and drastically increase interconnectivity among places that are used to be farther apart. It is commonly understood that access to HSR will have significant impact on economic development. It is, however, also quite possible that the benefits to economic development brought by HSR will have a diminishing marginal effect. That is to say, the benefits brought by HSR to economic development tend to be the greatest when access to HSR is scarce. The benefits will decrease once access to HSR becomes more frequent. With data of HSR stations distribution and a set of panel data of socioeconomic information at county-level from 2008 – 2015 in China, this study creates four HSR accessibility indices and attempts to provide insights on how access to the HSR system supports China’s county-level development. The first one simply measures the geographic distributions of HSR stations and feed the data to a global spatial panel model to investigate whether the presence of an HSR station will have significant impact on county development. The second one directly measures the accessibility to HSR based on road network travel time. The third one measures a Euclidean distance from the geometric center of the county to the nearest HSR station. The fourth one is an inclusive and inversed distance measure attempting to capture HSR’s geographic influence. The last three indices will be used in a geographically weighted panel regression model to test the potential varying relationships between HSR accessibility and county development, controlling other socioeconomic factors. Our results suggest that on average the presence of an HSR station suggests about 2.7 % increase of that county’s per capita GDP. The geographically weighted panel regression suggests that in places where HSR is sparsely distributed (access to HSR is scarce and less frequent), the relationship between HSR accessibility and GDP per capita is significant and positive. In places where HSR is densely distributed (access to HSR is more frequent), the relationship is less apparent. The current study explores the distribution of HSR and its contribution to county development in China. We hope the results will offer significant insights of the relationships between infrastructure construction and county economic development in both China and beyond.

Investigating high-speed rail construction's support to county level regional development in China: An eigenvector based spatial filtering panel data analysis

The construction of high-speed rail in China was initially a direct response to the increasing demand of up-to-date infrastructure. It is commonly understood that the construction of HSR has significant wider economic impact on local development. The benefits of HSR are represented by the accessibility to the HSR stations. Our study defines accessibility to HSR with a simple distance measure and a transportation network measure that considers travel from the center of the county through different grades of roads to the nearest HSR stations. For better understanding, we estimate both global and local (i.e., location-specific) impacts from HSR, using per capital GDP as a representation of the wider economic impact. With access to a panel dataset from 2008 to 2015 of regional socioeconomic indicators at the county-level units in China, the current study employs an eigenvector based spatial filtering (ESF) approach with and without spatially varying coefficients in an attempt to establish potential global and local relationships between HSR accessibility and county-level regional development. The analysis result suggests that it is likely that HSR accessibility might significantly contribute to regional development. A 10% decrease of the travel time to the nearest HSR station could bring about 0.44% (locally ranging from 0.28% to 3.1%) increase in local GDP per capita at the county level, ceteris paribus. The panel analysis suggests that the continued development of HSR construction in China will have long-term and sustainable support to local economic development. This is especially important to the relatively underdeveloped regions in the North and West China.

A geographic assessment of the economic development impact of Korean high-speed rail stations

As part of the balanced-development strategy, the Korean high-speed rail system−Korean Train eXpress (KTX)−is expected to serve not only as the next-generation intercity transit system, but also to have effects on regional development. With increased accessibility, HSR station locations have the potential to act as transport nodes as well as evolving as localized urban places by attracting higher-volume passenger flow and increasing economic activity. This paper evaluates the performance of KTX stations as an economic development strategy using the node-place concept, which simultaneously assesses a station's role as node and place. The calculated scores from the node-place index suggest various outcomes of KTX stations. While balanced stations are performing as both nodes and places and are located in urban centers, imbalanced stations that perform neither role well are found on urban peripheries. Our findings indicate imbalanced stations are less effective for attracting passengers and other economic activities. HSR station vitality is depends on interactions with existing urbanized areas, and those located in urban peripheries typically lack this. Station proximity to central business districts is an important consideration for locating future KTX stations in either mid-size cities or suburban areas, in order to maximize the economic impacts of KTX services.

Impacts of high-speed rail lines on the city network in China

China's large-scale HSR network has a significant influence on both accessibility and connectivity, but little attention has been paid to its impacts on connectivity. Changes in connectivity largely affect the external relations among cities, thus influencing the structure of the city network. This paper examines the impacts of China's HSR network on the overall connectivity and nodal centrality of the city network, as evaluated by passenger trains from 2003 to 2014. This paper employs the graph index, average path length, clustering coefficient and three indicators of centrality, namely weighted degree centrality (WDC), weighted closeness centrality (WCC) and weighted betweenness centrality (WBC). The results show that the HSR network largely increased overall connectivity according to the increasing Beta index and clustering coefficient, and decreasing average path length. The HSR lines also increased the average centrality of the city network and the inequality of nodal centrality according to the WCC indicator, but they decreased the inequality of nodal centrality with regard to the WDC and WBC indicators. Meanwhile, the growing HSR network led to the centrality tended to intensify in large cities in terms of the WCC indicator, but intensify in small cities according to the WDC and WBC indicators. Spatially, the cities with HSR stations, population over 3 million and GDP over 100 billion RMB saw higher increases in centrality than the others; the cities with high values of WDC and WCC, especially the top 20 cities, tended to concentrate in the populous areas with well-developed economies (e.g., Yangtze River Delta), whereas the cities with high WBC values in 2014 were coupled with the hub cities of regional railway management administration.

Peripheral High-Speed Rail Stations in Spain

A peripheral, or city-edge, location is relatively common for new HSR stations in small and medium-sized cities and less densely populated areas. In Spain, mainly as a result of local and regional pressure, only 9 of the 35 station (Desember 2015) with HSR services are peripherally located. This paper analyses the urban planning and development local strategies that have been undertaken around peripheral HSR stations in Spain. Peripherally located HSR stations cannot be analysed as a single typology because they respond to different territorial logics and have different characteristics. However, identifying different typologies helps to understand the characteristics and territorial functions that different stations perform. The second part of the paper analyses: the local planning and development strategies employed around HSR stations which are related to their territorial contexts; the specific characteristics of each station; and the different strategies employed by stakeholders. Governance seems a fundamental issue in the case of peripheral stations because they need coordinated actions to overcome the main challenges that they face, most of which are related to their territorial integration and external accessibility.

The Impact of High Speed Rail on Tourism Development: A Case Study of Japan

In order to clarify the impact of Shinkansen network extension on tourism development in Japan, this study investigates the change of tourism demand and tourist behavior in Tohoku and Kyushu Region by using statistical data collected by MLIT and JTA. The results suggest that tourism arrivals increased significantly in cities that were connected by the extended Shinkansen network. In addition, modal share of railway showed obvious increase as well. This paper also reviews the policies that have been adopted to promote tourism development by utilizing Shinkansen through a case study of Hirosaki and Ibusuki city. In order to clarify the impact of HSR and policy effort on tourism demand, Ordinary Least Square (OLS) regression analysis is conducted in this study. The model estimation result suggests that the shorter distant from HSR station will result in an increase of tourism demand to a certain destination. In addition, it indicates that the simultaneously operation of Shinkansen and scenic trains will significantly increase the tourism demand. However, such influence will decay over time. Specifically speaking, although it has great influence on tourism demand in the first year, such influence becomes insignificant in the second year.

Car-free concept in Changzhou high-speed rail station area development

Rapid urban development and increased car ownership and use in China bring many social and environmental problems. Many Chinese cities are promoting numerous large-scale transport infrastructures and development projects. How to shift the car-oriented development paradigm in the planning and construction of these projects is a challenge for planners and engineers. In the planning of the new town of Changzhou high-speed rail station, the car-free development concept was introduced to create a pedestrian-friendly urban space with easy transportation accessibility, safety and vitality. The planning team studied the car-free development concept and practices, and proposed an adaptive integrated solution for the HSR station project. It consists of four components: mixed-use development, maximum accessibility by public transportation, seamless transport transfer and continuous pedestrian network, which were integrated in the urban design by interfacing with land use, landscape and architecture. The result of the urban design is acknowledged and used as a guiding and control instrument by the city planning bureau for planning and management, serving as a basis for the regulatory planning and further spatial design.

HSR Station Location Choice and its Local Land Use Impacts on Small Cities: A Case Study of Aveiro, Portugal

According to the Trans-European HSR network planning, in Portugal, Aveiro HSR station will be an important rail hub, of which the current planned location is distant from the city center without any existing public transport service to the urban area. Based on the current urban transport network and HSR planning, this paper examines two proposed HSR station location alternatives in and away from Aveiro city, with various travel times to the station by different travel modes. In this study, by consulting the evidences of land use impacts on Ciudad Real in Madrid-Seville HSR line of Spain as a benchmark model, we develop a land cover agent-based model to simulate the potential urban land use impacts on Aveiro city with various station location scenarios, according to the improvement of regional accessibility and population growth in each square land cell as individual decision-maker. The obtained results from this work reveals the positive impacts on land use development intensities of Aveiro city if the HSR station is located in the same place as the current rail station. Nonetheless, this paper also yields that the city of Aveiro hardly receive any benefits if the station is located away from the city center. A deceleration of land use development is also a possible consequence depending on the attractiveness of the new HSR station.