Spatial structure remodeling in yangtze river delta region under high-speed railway network organization

Abstract

In recent years, China’s high-speed railway construction has developed rapidly, playing an extremely important role in the exchange of elements between cities and supporting the operation of the national urban system. The Yangtze River Delta region is one of the most advanced and balanced regions in China. With the rapid development of China’s high-speed railway construction, its regional spatial structure supported by the high-speed railway network has also undergone a series of changes. Based on the data of high-speed trains in the Yangtze River Delta region collected from the official website of the Ministry of Railways, the OD connection matrix between cities in the Yangtze River Delta was constructed, using some indexes such as network correlation degree, network density, central degree, to describe the characteristics of the city network in this region. The results show that, firstly, under the lead of Shanghai, the core corridor in the Yangtze River Delta region has been further strengthened. Secondly, as an important network hub in this region, the regional network status of Nanjing even exceeds that of Shanghai, and cities such as Hangzhou and Hefei also have the function of organizing sub-regional traffic. What is more, under the influence of the high-speed railway, the reach range of the metropolitan area has been greatly improved. A case comparison with the Ring-Bohai and Guangdong-Guangxi area showed that the Yangtze River Delta area is the most balanced among those three. Finally, some prospects for the future development of the Yangtze River Delta are discussed in this paper.