Sustainable Development of the China Railway Express under the Belt and Road Initiative: Focusing on Infrastructure Reliability and Trade Facilitation

Qin Yu, Yun Xiao, Guangmin Wang () and Di Cui ()
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Qin Yu: School of Economics and Management, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Yun Xiao: School of Economics and Management, Changzhou Institute of Technology, Changzhou 213000, China
Guangmin Wang: School of Economics and Management, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China
Di Cui: Safety and Emergency Research Division, China Waterborne Transport Research Institute, Beijing 100088, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 18, 1-17

Abstract: The China Railway Express (CR Express) is an important component of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The sustainable development of CR Express provides critical support for regional economic integration and promotes a balanced development of the supply chain. Infrastructure reliability and trade facilitation greatly impact the operation of CR Express and are crucial for improving the competitiveness of transnational trade and cross-border efficiency. Inconsistent transportation infrastructure standards and low-efficient transportation service procedures affect the cross-border movement of cargo among countries. This paper integrates quantified metrics of infrastructure reliability and trade facilitation into a spatial friction model based on the electrical resistance theory, estimating the impact of these factors on the transportation flow of CR Express. Additionally, three scenarios of infrastructure reliability and trade facilitation are established for the four trade routes from Zhengzhou to Hamburg. Numerical experiments show that compared with inland river routes and traditional ocean routes, infrastructure reliability and trade facilitation significantly influence the transport flow of CR Express. These research results can provide a reference for the improvements of CR Express transportation efficiency and the simplification of customs clearance processes, potentially promoting the sustainable development of the CR Express supply chain to some extent.

Keywords: the Belt and Road initiative; infrastructure reliability; trade facilitation; sustainable development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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