The impact of high-speed railway on the economic development of cities along the HSR lines - An example from Shaanxi Province

As a revolutionary means of transport in the transportation industry, the successful operation of high-speed railways has not only changed the transportation landscape and ushered in a new era of transportation but has also profoundly affected the economic development of cities along high-speed railways, generating a huge economic effect. As the scale of high-speed railways in Shaanxi Province continues to expand rapidly, there is a great need to scientifically study the impact of high-speed railways on the economic development of cities along the lines and to avoid the negative impact brought by high-speed railways, there is an urgent need for the regions along the lines to formulate reasonable industrial development strategies to guide the scientific development and reasonable layout of industries. This thesis systematically analyses the mechanism of the impact of high-speed railways on the regional economy in terms of regional economic impact, accessibility, spatial structure, industrial structure, and employment, and comprehensively analyses the path of the impact effect of high-speed railways. It is argued that high-speed railways mainly improve transport conditions as a prerequisite to influence the economic impact of urban development along the HSR lines, while the impact of high-speed railways on the economy of cities along the HSR lines is mainly reflected in the catalytic effect, industrial agglomeration effect, industrial diffusion effect, integration effect, siphon effect and gradient effect. The empirical part mainly uses the method of quantitative analysis to study the economic impact of cities along the high-speed railway in Shaanxi Province. Comparing and measuring the spatial interaction between cities before and after the opening of the high-speed railway, using the weighted travel time and economic potential model, to judge the accessibility changes of cities along the lines in Shaanxi with or without high-speed railway; select cities along the HSR lines in Shaanxi Province from 2010 to 2020 Regional GDP, output value and proportion of three industries, population, and other data, summarize the development trend of high-speed railway regional economic aggregate, industrial structure, and employee population. The main conclusions are: the opening of high-speed railways has significantly increased the level of accessibility between cities along the HSR lines in Shaanxi, with closer economic ties between towns and a significant increase in the intensity of the ties; the structure of industrial output value along the HSR lines has changed, and the changes vary from city to city along the lines; the beneficial impact of the opening of high-speed railways on the regional economy along the high-speed railways in Shaanxi mainly lies in enhancing the competitiveness of the secondary and tertiary industries; the formation of the Guanzhong Plain city cluster and the strengthening of the competitiveness of the city cluster; and the impact on labor force employed in the region. Finally, this thesis combines the development of cities along the HSR lines in Shaanxi Province to provide corresponding decision-making support for the development of relevant regional economic planning in cities along the lines.