EconPapers    
Economics at your fingertips  
 

Complex network analysis of China's integrated air-high-speed rail network: Topological characteristics, centrality measures, and cluster analysis

Mengyuan Lu, Edgar Jimenez Perez and Keith Mason

Journal of Transport Geography, 2025, vol. 127, issue C

Abstract: This paper presents a comprehensive complex network analysis of China's integrated air-High-Speed Rail (HSR) network by constructing a directed weighted network and comparing its complex characteristics with its sub-networks. The findings reveal that, beyond small-world properties, the networks exhibit broad-scale characteristics with a rapid decline in degree distribution, deviating from the traditional scale-free model due to operational constraints and market saturation. Centrality analysis highlights the rising importance of secondary hubs, such as Xi'an, Kunming, and Zhengzhou, as strategic transit points linking urban centres and peripheral regions. The integrated network achieves enhanced efficiency through hybrid modularity, combining the aviation network's centralised structure with the HSR network's corridor-focused design. While this integration fosters economic connectivity and regional development, resilience challenges emerge due to reliance on high-centrality nodes. These findings offer implications for intermodal transport planning and regional development.

Keywords: Air-high-speed rail (HSR) network; Complex network analysis; Network topology; Cluster analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0966692325001838

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:127:y:2025:i:c:s0966692325001838

DOI: 10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2025.104292

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 ().

 
Page updated 2025-06-18
Handle: RePEc:eee:jotrge:v:127:y:2025:i:c:s0966692325001838