Impact Of High-speed Rail Research Articles

Exploring spatial heterogeneity in the high-speed rail impact on air quality

As high-speed rail (HSR) proliferates, there is a growing interest in examining its impact on air quality. Previous studies have largely ignored its heterogeneous effects among air pollutants and across regions. Using longitudinal data from China, this study developed spatial difference-in-difference models to examine the relationships between HSR and air quality from a multi-pollutant and multi-scale perspective. We found that at the national level, the operation of HSR is associated with a better air quality, which mainly attributes to the spillover effects of HSR on the environment. However, at the regional level, the effect of HSR on air quality can be either positive or negative, depending on the socio-economic conditions of the regions. In particular, HSR has a negative effect on local air quality in Northeast China, but improves neighboring cities' air quality in Northeast and Central China. In Central China, HSR operation only has a significant negative effect on AQI of neighboring cities. In East and West China, HSR has negative correlations with AQI of both local and neighboring cities, but none of them is statistically significant. The impacts of HSR on different air pollutants also vary across regions. These findings suggest that region-specific policies are needed to address the impacts of HSR on air quality in different regions.

The impact of high-speed rail on urban economy: Synergy with urban agglomeration policy

The economic externality of transportation infrastructure is related to the local policy environment. China's high-speed rail (HSR) is developing simultaneous with urban agglomeration (UA). This study examines the synergy of HSR operation and UA policy implementation on the urban economy. With the data on 285 prefecture-level cities of China joining the HSR network and UAs from 2003 to 2018, we use staggered difference-in-differences (DID) design to test the individual and joint impacts of HSR and UA policy on urban economy respectively. Our result shows that the joint impact of the two interventions is significantly stronger than the individual impact, which means the existence of the synergy effect. Exploration of the synergy mechanism identifies three channels through which the HSR effect is strengthened by UA policy: (a) Institutional integration effect: UA policy has eliminated the administrative barriers in HSR operation. (b) Spillover effect: UA policy has diffused the benefits of HSR, and (c) Efficiency effect: UA policy planning has strengthened the drive of HSR to urban efficiency. In addition, we find the specific sequence of intervention, the inauguration of HSR after the implementation of UA policy, can better promote the economy. Finally, a heterogeneity analysis is performed to study the impacts on center cities and non-center cities. We emphasize the importance of the cooperation of transportation infrastructure and regional policies, and provide a theoretical basis for the development of HSR industry and the implementation of UA strategy in China.

The impact and mechanism of high-speed rail on energy efficiency: an empirical analysis based on 285 cities of China.

Improving energy efficiency is an important measure of environmental governance. At present, studies on the impact of high-speed rail on energy efficiency need to be further studied. This paper constructs panel data of 285 cities at prefecture-level and above in China from 2003 to 2017, and uses the difference-in-difference (DID) to study the impact of high-speed railway on urban energy efficiency. Based on the theories of "factor flow," "knowledge spillover," and "center-periphery," this paper discusses the influence mechanism and heterogeneity of high-speed railway on energy efficiency. The empirical results show that high-speed railway can significantly improve energy efficiency, and the conclusion is still valid after parallel trend test, propensity score matching and difference-in-difference (PSM-DID) test, and instrumental variable method. The results remained true after a series of robustness tests. Mechanism analysis shows that high-speed railway can improve energy efficiency by promoting industrial structure upgrading, technological innovation, and market integration. Analysis of heterogeneity shows that the promotion effect of high-speed railway on energy efficiency is greater in central and western cities and core cities. This study provides useful enlightenment for optimizing China's high-speed rail construction planning and seizing the opportunity of high-speed rail development to improve energy efficiency.

How Does High-Speed Rail Impact the Industry Structure? Evidence from China

The economic implications of high-speed rail (HSR) cannot be overlooked in China. This paper studies the impact of HSR on the advancement and rationalization of industrial structure and the tertiary industry aggregation through theoretical derivation and multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) by improving the theoretical framework and empirical methods according to the characteristics of China's HSR and economic development. From analyses on urban heterogeneity and inter-industry spillover effects, the transmission mechanism and expressions of the industrial structure are also discussed. The findings show that HSR promotes tertiary industry aggregation and contributes to the transformation of the industrial structure from the primary to secondary and tertiary industry sectors, as well as realizing industrial structure advancement but irrationalization. Furthermore, HSR has a more significant influence on tertiary industry aggregation in large cities and high-density cities. Additionally, the aggregation of the transportation, warehousing, and postal sectors has been reduced, with a significant spillover effect on neighboring cities, proving the siphon effect and conduction mechanism, resulting in a structural shift in the tertiary industry, from basic to advanced sectors. The movement of human resources is a key mediator in the economic impact of HSR.

Spatio-temporal distribution of Chinese cities’ air quality and the impact of high-speed rail

Chinese government has set a goal to reach carbon peak and achieve carbon neutrality, endeavoring to gradually realize net-zero carbon dioxide (CO2) emission. Moreover, the new transport technology has also been fast developed, represented by the quick expansion of the high-speed rail (HSR) system in China. However, there has been very little investigation on how the HSR can affect city-level emission and urban air quality. Especially, the potential spatial spillover effect and the mechanism of such potential impact have not been examined. Based on the urban air quality index (AQI) of 286 Chinese cities over the 2016–2019 period, this study first adopts the spatial auto-correlation analysis to quantify the spatio-temporal characteristics of Chinese cities' AQI. Then, a spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) model and the spatial Dubin model (SDM) are estimated to shed light on how Chinese cities' air quality can be affected by HSR. This study identifies apparent spatio-temporal distribution patterns in Chinese cities' air quality. We found that the opening of HSR in Chinese cities significantly improves the urban air quality by reducing AQI by an average of 4%. Moreover, the spatial auto-correlation coefficient is 0.0897 and statistically significant. HSR opening in the adjacent city can also improve one city's AQI by an average of 1.3% (i.e., the neighboring effect). We also highlighted and verified the mechanism of such a positive HSR impact on the urban air quality. First, as a cleaner transport mode, HSR helps divert traffic from other more polluting modes. HSR also helps promote the city's tertiary industry, leading to fewer emissions. The heterogeneous analyses further demonstrated that HSR is more effective to improve the urban air quality in eastern region (with the AQI reduction of 5.88%) and western regions (with AQI reduction of 7.25%).

Impact of Urbanization through High-Speed Rail on Regional Development with the Interaction of Socioeconomic Factors: A View of Regional Industrial Structure

This study is to empirically investigate the impact of urbanization through improving transportation infrastructure, reflected by introducing high-speed rail (HSR), on the regional development with the interaction of the socioeconomic factors reflected by industrial structure. An advanced quantitative tool named multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) method is applied. We find the impact of urbanization through HSR on regional development is mixed while interacting with industrial structure helps to explain heterogeneities of the impact. The more the industrial structure tends to be agricultural, the greater the negative impact of HSR opening on regional economic development; meanwhile, the more the industrial structure evolves to be service-oriented, the greater the positive impact of HSR. This study highlights the importance of the interaction between urban growth and socioeconomic factors, which would provides a reference for government and urban planners to make decisions on introducing HSR or improving transportation infrastructure.

Operation of high-speed rail and reduction of corporate pollution: evidence from China.

As an environmentally friendly means of transport, the high-speed rail (HSR) is conducive to promoting corporate performance. An innovative approach extends the impact of HSR networks on pollution emissions from the regional level to the micro-enterprise level. Based on the quasi-natural experiment of the opening of HSR, a difference-in-difference model is used to investigate the impact of HSR on enterprise pollution emission levels and its action mechanism by using the matched data from the Chinese Enterprise Pollution Emission Database, the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database, and the Chinese City Statistical Yearbook from 2000 to 2010. The results show that opening HSR significantly reduces the enterprises' pollution emission level, while reducing the number of polluting enterprises and transportation costs as well as improving the innovation capacity of enterprises are the corresponding action mechanisms. The impact of HSR on the enterprises' pollution emission varies with industry intensity, population size, and regional economic development level. The conclusions not only provide important insights to increase the ecological quality of China's environment through transportation infrastructure upgrades but also bring some guidance to more developing countries to improve their air environment.

Impact of High-Speed Rail on the Development Efficiency of Low-Carbon Tourism: A Case Study of an Agglomeration in China

As an important indicator for measuring the development level of low-carbon tourism, reducing the carbon emissions of tourism transportation has become an essential strategic goal and task for the sustainable development of tourism. Among many tourism vehicles, high-speed rails have a significant role in reducing the carbon emissions of tourism transportation. To clarify the impact of high-speed rails on the development efficiency of low-carbon tourism, using the relevant data of Zhengzhou urban agglomeration from 2010 to 2020, the DEA-BCC model and the Malmquist index method were used to measure these data. The results show the following: (1) the average comprehensive development efficiency of the Zhengzhou metropolitan high-speed rail for low-carbon tourism is low, and the comprehensive development efficiency of each city varies greatly; (2) the impact of high-speed rails on the development efficiency of low-carbon tourism in some underdeveloped areas is increasing. The impact on the development efficiency of low-carbon tourism in more developed areas is declining; (3) affected by COVID-19, tourism carbon emissions have shown a downward trend, reflecting the importance of low-carbon travel to low-carbon tourism to a certain extent. The research results not only verify the existing research conclusions but also verify the role of high-speed rails in the development of low-carbon tourism, and have practical value with respect to targeted guidance for the development of low-carbon tourism.

Has the Opening of High-Speed Rail Promoted the Balanced Development between Cities?—Evidence of Commercial and Residential Use Land Prices in China

The impact of high-speed rail (the following text is written as HSR) on regional economy has become an important research hotspot in the world. Using the Difference in Differences (DID) method, this paper analyzes the influence of HSR opening in 223 cities from 2011 to 2018, considering the time delay effect of HSR opening. After the Propensity Score Matching Difference in Differences (PSM-DID) method and counterfactual regression for robustness test, and we analyzed the mechanism of the urban resident population and financial activities; the results show that: (1) The impact of HSR opening on residential land price is more positive than commercial use land price. (2) For residential land price, the opening of HSR has a greater positive effect on the land in urban areas. (3) The HSR has a more significant impact on the price of residential land in high-tier (second-tier and first-tier) cities, especially on urban area in first-tier cities (including new first-tier cities), and then their city area, followed by second-tier cities. (4) In addition to the impact starting time first, the impact coefficient of HSR on the land price in high-tier cities is higher than that in low-tier cities. (5) From the perspective of residential land price, within 5 years from opening, HSR plays a constant role in developed cities’ economy.

The Impact of High-Speed Rail and Central Cities on Enterprise Financing Costs

The study of the impact of the high-speed railway (HSR) on enterprise financing costs (EFCs) contributes to understanding the economic impact of transportation facilities, by analyzing the coordinated development of the regional economy and studying the influencing factors in enterprise operation. By using data of Chinese listed companies from 2008 to 2019, this paper analyzes the impact of HSR on EFCs and examines the role of central cities (CCs) in the whole process through methods of the DID model, panel threshold model, PSM-DID, parallel trend test and so on. The research results are as follows: first, HSR led to a significant decrease in the level of corporate debt financing. The regression coefficient of HSR is −0.002, which is significant at a 5% level. Second, there exists a heterogeneous effect of HSR on CCs. Mid-region enterprises suffered more than small enterprises, low-growth enterprises and enterprises with a low return on assets. Third, HSR affects EFCs, which leads to the diffusion effect of CCs, resulting in an increase in EFCs in CCs and a decrease in non-CCs. It was found that there is a single threshold of the panel threshold regression based on per capita GDP, and the regression coefficient of HSR below the threshold is −0.001, which is significant at the 5% level. Additionally, the regression coefficient of HSR above the threshold is 0.002, which is significant at the 1% level. The interaction term and group regression both also confirm the above conclusion. Fourth, the impact of HSR on EFCs is limited by geographic distance. When the geographic distance between a non-CC and a single CC is greater than 500 km, and the total distance between a non-CC and four CCs is greater than 3500 km, the effect of HSR is remarkable. The above conclusions prove the significant impact of HSR on EFCs and reveal the role of CCs and geographic distance in this process. These provide new ideas and evidence for corporate financing management as well as planning for urban development and the HSR network.

Access to high-speed rail and land prices in China's peripheral regions

This paper examines how transport access affects the land values in peripheral regions, by exploiting the recent expansion of China's high-speed rail (HSR) network. Based on a nation-wide land transaction dataset and applying a DID-hedonic approach, we find that industrial parcels in distant peripheries benefit from the HSR-induced growth spillover, while residential parcels in the immediate vicinity of a high-tier core experience larger price appreciation after HSR connection. Based on comprehensive firm-level datasets, additional tests of the HSR impact on the location choice and performance of firms in peripheral regions show much similar patterns. These findings add to the understanding of the impact of HSR on the spatial distribution of economic activity. By accelerating the growth spillovers from the highly agglomerated urban core to remote peripheries, transport access can play an essential role in reducing spatial inequality. By contrast, peripheries neighboring highly agglomerated urban cores may benefit more from the relocation of residents from urban core, at the expense of a shrinking manufacturing sector due to agglomeration shadow effect.

Has transportation infrastructure development improved the quality of economic growth in China’s cities? A quasi-natural experiment based on the introduction of high-speed rail

We use 284 Chinese cities over 2005–2018 to analyze the impact of introducing high-speed rail (HSR) on urban economic growth quality. We found that the introduction of HSR can promote urban economic growth. Five years after introducing HSR, it plays a significant role in promoting economic growth quality. A heterogeneity analysis shows that its introduction can promote this economic growth in regional centers and non-central cities, where the promotion effect is greater for regional centers. For cities in different regions, HSR has a greater impact on economic growth in eastern cities followed by central cities. Moreover, the most notable impact of HSR is on urban economic development dynamics. Therefore, the government should adopt differentiated policies when formulating regional strategies to improve urban economic growth quality.

The Effect of High-Speed Rail on Cropland Abandonment in China

This study analyzed Chinese labor-force survey data to determine the relationship between cropland abandonment and high-speed rail (HSR) infrastructure. A PSM-DID approach was employed to examine 2014 and 2016 data from the China Labor-force Dynamics Survey and estimate the impact of HSR, from which it was found that HSR accessibility promoted cropland abandonment in local farm households with a coefficient of 0.206, that is, HSR projects led to a 20.6% increase in area of cropland abandonment and these impacts were found to be greater in hilly areas and lower in plain areas. The results also suggested that HSR accessibility could have a “pull” effect, which resulted in rural labor force shifts to non-agricultural sectors in the local region. Countermeasures and policy suggestions are given to reduce cropland abandonment.

Can High-Speed Rail Help Achieve Urban Green Development? From a Spatial Perspective

As a convenient means of transportation, high-speed rail (HSR) plays an important role in green development. In the context of the rapid development of China’s HSR, this study selects the SBM-DDF-SML model to construct the green total factor productivity (GTFP) index to measure urban green development; moreover, it empirically tests the impact of the opening of the HSR on GTFP using the spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) model. The results show that the opening of the HSR could significantly promote GTFP for HSR-served cities. In addition, the opening of HSR has a positive effect on the GTFP for neighboring HSR-served cities but a negative impact on that for neighboring non-HSR-served cities. The mechanism test shows that HSR can influence GTFP by promoting urban green innovation and entrepreneurial vitality. This study is a supplement to the research on the impact of HSR on the GTFP, in order to provide corresponding policy advice. The government should optimize the layout of HSR and help cities achieve green and sustainable development.

Impact of High-speed rail on air travel demand between Dallas and Houston applying Monte Carlo simulation

High-speed rails (HSR) are common in Europe and Asia, but the U.S. still does not have an operational HSR network. Subsequently, literature on HSR in the U.S. socio-spatial context is very limited. To address this gap in the literature, we focus on the Dallas-Houston HSR project, planned to provide service in 2026, to investigate the critical attributes travelers consider when choosing between air and HSR. This study also explores the potential impacts HSR would have on airlines sharing this route. To examine these attributes and the potential effects of this HSR, we performed a stated preference survey, discrete choice analysis, and applied Monte Carlo simulation. Our results show that service frequency is an essential factor for travelers choosing a mode of transportation between Dallas and Houston. A potential competition and cooperation opportunity exist between airlines and HSR on this corridor.

High-Speed Rail Development and Regional Inequalities: Evidence From Japan

This study investigates the impact of the introduction of high-speed rail (HSR) on regional income and innovation, focusing on peripheral regions in Japan. Average income per capita (IN) and number of patent applications per employee (PA) are assumed to represent regional income and innovation, respectively. “Peripheries” are defined based on each municipality’s employment density and its accessibility, the latter is measured by effective density, an index representing interregional communication opportunities. Municipality-level panel data from Japan for a 40-year period are used. A difference-in-differences analysis of municipalities with variable treatment timings is employed to investigate the impact of HSR on the IN and PA of peripheries. The findings indicate that the introduction of HSR has been able to contribute to the mitigation of regional inequalities by positively affecting the IN and PA of peripheries. Furthermore, the results estimated with the accessibility-based peripheries show that the impacts of HSR on IN are smaller and on PA are larger in these peripheries than in core regions. These suggest the crucial role that accessibility may play in peripheries for catching up with the economic growth of core regions, particularly in a context of geographical concentration of economic activities, as in the case of Japan. It is also argued that the enhanced PA in peripheries with poor accessibility might not have been well exploited for economic gains because of their underdeveloped industrial structures and distance to large hub cities, leading to challenges in catching up.

High-speed rail heading for innovation: the impact of HSR on intercity technology transfer

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of China’s high-speed rail (HSR) network on regional innovation cooperation examining the impact on intercity patent rights transactions in 2016 between 81,510 city-pairs. It shows that (1) China’s intercity technology transfer network assumes a national-scale ‘diamond structure’; (2) China’s HSR network had a robust positive effect on intercity technology transfer; and (3) these impacts are direct and indirect operating through impacts on geographical proximity, industrial proximity, innovative proximity and technology complementarity. These findings broaden our understanding of the association between transport infrastructure and innovation networks in large emerging economies.

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.

Does high-speed rail improve China's urban environmental efficiency? Empirical evidence from a quasi-natural experiment.

Whether high-speed rail (HSR) can promote the coordination between the economy and environment is a critical issue that needs to be investigated. We used balanced panel data of 281 prefecture-level or above cities in China from 2005 to 2017 to consider the opening of HSR as a quasi-natural experiment. We integrated the difference-in-differences (DID) model, the spatial difference-in-differences (SDID) model, and social network analysis (SNA) to empirically investigate the impact of HSR on urban environmental efficiency (UEE). The results showed that HSR significantly improved UEE by 4.6% annually during the study period, although the effect of HSR on UEE exhibited a time lag and varied dramatically in different cities. An analysis of the mechanism showed that the effect of technological innovation and the structural effect brought by the opening of HSR were the main contributors to the improved UEE. Further analysis showed that HSR service centrality also significantly improved UEE and HSR opening and HSR service centrality both had positive spatial spillover effects on the UEE of neighboring cities. Several policy implications are proposed accordingly to make full use of the advantages of HSR to improve UEE for China.

Impact of High-Speed Rail on Social Equity—Insights from a Stated Preference Survey in Vietnam

This study investigated the impact of high-speed rail (HSR) on social equity, utilizing information from a stated preference survey conducted in Vietnam. Social equity was examined across the population of four cities representing the northern, central, and southern areas of Vietnam. In general, the high price of HSR is one of the barriers to using HSR over inter-city buses and conventional trains. Low-income groups (less than VND 6 million per month) have 4.894 and 4.725 times the likelihoods, compared to higher income groups, of retaining the use of an inter-city bus or conventional train, respectively, after introducing HSR. Our findings reveal the fact that social inequity may occur, with the low-income group being especially vulnerable, due to the existence of HSR in the future. Furthermore, our results indicate that the interest of people towards inter-city buses and conventional trains varied among the four cities before and after the presence of HSR. More specifically, low-income groups in Vinh and Nha Trang were observed to have a higher feeling of staying away from HSR, as they prefer to use inter-city buses. The findings of this study suggest that planners and policymakers need to consider various components of HSR ticket planning, in order to achieve sustainable evolution of the passenger rail system.