Multi-Layer Regional Railway Network and City Economy: Polarization, Integration, and Spillover

Abstract

Cities of different sizes and functions in megaregions around the world have shown strong interests in more efficient and intimate transportation connections. Multi-layer regional railway networks (MRRN) have made the connections possible and contributed to regional economic development by improving inter-city accessibility. However, how cities’ economies in a megaregion would benefit from MRRNs over time is largely unknown yet. In this paper, an MRRN including the corridor high-speed railway network (CHSRN), the inter-city high-speed railway network (IHSRN), and conventional and regional railway network is defined and described in detail. Indicators for a city integrating into an MRRN such as Shannon entropy, clustering coefficient, and PageRank node centrality are proposed based on complex-system algorithms. We further design a Spatial Dynamic Durbin model accounting for time lag effects to estimate the impacts of the MRRN on regional economic growth from a spatiotemporal perspective. The results show that CHSRN and IHSRN complement each other in promoting coordinated development of the regional economies in different stages of urbanization and industrialization. Although the extent of MRRN integration among neighboring cities can lead to competition at the local scale, better integration into the network may help non-adjacent cities develop economic cooperation. Small and medium-sized cities can benefit through gaining more flows of people, capital, and technologies when they are connected into the network. Findings from the theoretical and empirical analysis can potentially help understand the way megaregions are reorganized by MRRN connections and achieve long-term balanced economic sustainability throughout the region.

Keywords: Transportation infrastructure, multi-layer regional railway network, spatial dynamic Durbin model, economy spillover effect, megaregion integration.