Economic Effect of China High-Speed Railway

The high-speed railway development project now being planned in China is an outstanding project with excellent conditions not found anywhere else in the world. The route runs along the corridor between Beijing and Shanghai which encompasses a population of 300 million, or around one quarter of the total population of China. The region is pivotal for all the major functions of the nation including political, economic and social activities, and accounts for one-third of China's GDP. The railway development project envisages railway transportation between these two major cities with the maximum cruising speed of 300 km/h, thus reducing the travel time by eight hours from 14 to 6 hours. The project is therefore expected to have a very large economic impact on the whole of China as well as the areas along the line, and the railway business to have an excellent earning potential. With this background, this paper presents a quantitative analysis of the economic effect and profit/loss aspect based on the results of a survey of demand forecast for the services of the planned railway that was conducted in parallel with this study.