Is high speed rail an appropriate solution to China’s rail capacity problems?

Jianhong Wu, Chris Nash and Dong Wang

Journal of Transport Geography, 2014, vol. 40, issue C, 100-111

Abstract: This paper addresses the question of whether the construction of new high speed lines is the most cost efficient way of solving the rail capacity problems of China. China has the most heavily used rail network in the world and rail traffic has doubled in the last 10years. Rail continues to have a major share of both passenger and freight markets. The need for a large increase in rail capacity seems clear. If volumes are high enough, there is an argument that system efficiency is maximised by segregating freight and passenger traffic in order to eliminate conflicts between the two and thus maximise capacity utilisation. In Europe this has often been achieved by building new high speed lines for passenger traffic, and leaving existing lines to freight and regional passenger services. It is argued that if a new line has to be constructed, then it is worth the additional cost of providing for high speeds for the extra benefits this brings.

Keywords: High speed rail; China; Capacity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692314000908

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:40:y:2014:i:c:p:100-111

DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2014.05.004

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Transport Geography is currently edited by Frank Witlox

More articles in Journal of Transport Geography from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().