Effects of high-speed railway construction and operation on related industries in China

Abstract

Incorporated as a highly integrated system of science and technology that has been assimilated in the field of transportation, high-speed railways not only meet the green travel needs of people but also promote the development of correlated industries. Considering the differences in each stage, primarily based on the input-output table for 149 sectors from the Chinese economy taken from the year 2017, an input-output model has been developed and applied in order to measure the economic pull of high-speed railway construction investment for various industries. Moreover, the shift-share spatial structure model has also been taken into account to quantitatively analyze the effect of the high-speed railway operation on related industries, and the three highspeed railway hub cities of Zhengzhou, Xi’an, and Wuhan in China have been taken as the specimens for the application of this model. The results show that the construction and operation of a high-speed railway has an optimization effect on the development of related industries, which provides a basis for industrial layout and structural optimization. This research provides a reference for the formulation of high-speed rail industry policy, is of great significance for the maintenance of sustainable economic development, and thus, promotes the sustainable development of transportation systems, cities and society as a whole.