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This study aims to analyze the development direction of train speed, density and weight in China.

The development of China's railway in the past 40 years can be divided into 3 stages. At the stage of potential tapping and capacity expansion, it is important to improve the train weight and density by upgrading the existing lines, and improving transportation capacity rapidly. At the stage of railway speed increase, the first priority is to increase train speed, reduce the travel time of passenger train, and synchronously take into account the increase of train density and weight. At the stage of developing high-speed railway, train speed, density and weight are co-developing on demand.

The train speed of high-speed railway will be 400 km h⁻¹, the interval time of train tracking will be 3 min, and the traffic density will be more than 190 pairs per day. The running speed of high-speed freight EMU will reach 200 km h⁻¹ and above. The maximum speed of passenger train on mixed passenger and freight railway can reach 200 km h⁻¹. The minimum interval time of train tracking can be compressed to 5 min. The freight train weight of 850 m series arrival-departure track railway can be increased to 4,500–5,000 t and that of 1,050 m series to 5,500–6,400 t. EMU trains should gradually replace ordinary passenger trains to improve the quality of railway passenger service. Small formation trains will operate more in intercity railway, suburban railway and short-distance passenger transportation.

The research can provide new connotations and requirements of railway train speed, density and weight in the new railway stage.

This study aims to investigate how opening high-speed railways affects the cost of debt financing based on China's background.

Using panel data on Chinese listed firms from 2008 to 2017, this study constructs a quasi-natural experiment and adopts a difference-in-difference model with multiple time periods to empirically examine the relation between the high-speed railway openings and debt financing cost.

Our results show that opening high-speed railways reduces the cost of debt financing, and this negative correlation is more significant in non-state firms, firms with weaker internal control, and firms that hire non-Big Four auditors. Besides, we explore the impact mechanisms and find that opening high-speed railways improves analyst attention, institutional investor participation, and information disclosure quality, which in turn lowers the cost of debt financing.

The results imply that the opening of high-speed railways helps to alleviate the information asymmetry and adverse selection between firms and creditors and ultimately reduces the cost of corporate debt financing.

This paper can inform firms and stakeholders about the impact of opening high-speed railways on debt financing cost: it improves the information environment, reduces the geographical location restrictions of debt financing, ensures the reasonable pricing of corporate debt, and thus promotes the healthy and sound development of the debt market.

This paper provides theoretical support and empirical evidence for the impact of infrastructure construction on the information environment of the debt market in China, which enriches the research on the “high-speed railway economy.” In addition, as an exogenous event, the opening of high-speed railways instantly shortens the time distance between firms and external stakeholders, which gives us a natural environment to conduct empirical research, thus providing a new perspective for financial research on firms' geographical location.

This chapter reviews three main issues in the interactions between air transport and high-speed rail (HSR) in China, namely the interaction between low-cost carriers (LCCs) and HSR, HSR speed effect on airlines, and airline–HSR integration. Studies on these three aspects of airline–HSR interactions have yet been well reviewed, and our chapter aims to fill in this gap. In this chapter, we comprehensively survey literature on the topics, especially studies on Chinese markets that have recently witnessed major HSR developments (and have planned further large-scale HSR expansion in the coming years). Our review shows that, first, compared to full-service carriers, LCCs face fiercer competition from HSR. However, the expansion of HSR network in China can be better coordinated with LCC development. Second, HSR speed exerts two countervailing effects on airline demand and price (the “travel-time” effect and “safety” effect, respectively). Specifically, an HSR speed reduction can have a positive effect on airlines due to longer HSR travel time, but a negative effect on airlines due to improved perception on HSR safety. Third, airline–HSR integration can be implemented through cooperation between airlines and HSR operators and through co-location of airports and HSR stations and can have important implications for intermodal transport and social welfare.

This paper aims to document and to illustrate highly usable research: a practical framework for realizing the sustainable operations of the high investment, technology-intensive high-speed railways in China. Also, for the first time, we draw a broad, metaphorical relationship between railways within a country to Chinese meridian lines within a human body. These are similar in enabling flows across the country and human body.

Employing Chinese case studies, we attempt to apply methodological procedures involving operational, financial and developmental in realizing the sustainability of high-speed railways. Critical criteria are emphasized for efficiency, financial viability and long-term funding sustained development of high-speed railways in the Chinese context. Policymakers may utilize the illustrative framework in working toward specific recommendations that may be implementable.

Three critical aspects to sustainability are operational, financial solvency and developmental. Our empirical investigations result in the working out of the procedural aspects as well. Based on this three-way classification, we design an evaluative framework for realizing sustainability of high-speed railways. Our insights are based on the social reality of China. Thus, we argue that cash handouts by government are necessary solutions, given the intensive capital investments required of high-speed railways for strongly positive externalities generated. On developmental aspects of sustainability, there should be rational, in-depth studies conducted so as to lead to rational choices of sites. Strong passenger flows coupled with affordability of fares are the twin guarantees of continuing, profitable performances.

This work on sustainability is globally, most highly significant for two reasons. First, railway is one fundamental mean of transportation within China. Thus, the sustainability of railway matters to a majority of the 1.3 billion people. Second, transport volume of China’s railway is the world’s largest. By developing such a comprehensive methodology, we hope to enhance how top management of Chinese Railways may keep the high-speed railways sustainable into the future.

This paper is socially highly significant, especially in the context of what has happened in recent years in China’s railway industry, and may contribute by providing both the regulators and management with an objective methodology in future projects assessment within high-speed railway.

This paper develops an overall framework for enabling management to realize sustainability of high-speed railway within China. The ideas, concepts and methodologies are likely beneficial to top management, regulators and policymakers within the railway transportation, a state monopoly.

The purpose of this paper is to study the influence of braking speed at –20 °C on the wear property of high-speed railway braking materials and the temperature also stress analyses of brake disc friction surface.

Friction brake tester was used to simulate the wear test of high-speed railway braking materials at diverse braking speeds (2,100, 2,400, 2,700 and 3,000 rad/min) at –20 °C and the stress and temperature analyses of brake disc friction surface were carried out by COMSOL.

Compared with 20°C, there is initial stress of brake disc friction surface before brake starting; also, the maximum wear depth is larger at –20°C. Besides, at –20 °C, with the rising of braking speed, the graphite particles on the friction surface of brake pad significantly reduce. And scratches and cracks are formed on brake pad friction surface. Besides, the abrasive wear, adhesive wear and thermal cracks of brake disc friction surface are aggravated. Moreover, the maximal worn depth also increase. Meanwhile, the highest temperature and the maximum thermal stress of brake disc friction surface both raise. Furthermore, the temperature and thermal stress gradients at radial direction of brake disc friction surface aggrandize, which makes the thermal cracks on brake disc friction surface further exacerbated.

In this paper, the wear property of the high-speed railway braking materials is studied by combining experiment and simulation. However, due to the low-speed traveling of high-speed railway was mainly studied in this paper, there may be no comprehensive simulation of the real running condition of high-speed railway. At the same time, the working condition of low-temperature environment cannot be completely simulated and controlled.

The research results of this paper provide a basic instruction for other researchers and also provide an important reference for relevant personnel to choose the braking speed of high-speed railway at –20 °C.

The research of this paper provides a brick for the study of high-speed railway braking materials and also provides some references for the safe service of trains in low-temperature environment.

This paper studied the wear property and carried out the simulation analysis of braking materials at –20 °C at diverse braking speed. The research findings provide an important reference for the selection of braking speed of high-speed railway at –20 °C.

The design goal for the tracking interval of high-speed railway trains in China is 3 min, but it is difficult to achieve, and it is widely believed that it is mainly limited by the tracking interval of train arrivals. If the train arrival tracking interval can be compressed, it will be beneficial for China's high-speed railway to achieve a 3-min train tracking interval. The goal of this article is to study how to compress the train arrival tracking interval.

By simulating the process of dense train groups arriving at the station and stopping, the headway between train arrivals at the station was calculated, and the pattern of train arrival headway was obtained, changing the traditional understanding that the train arrival headway is considered the main factor limiting the headway of trains.

When the running speed of trains is high, the headway between trains is short, the length of the station approach throat area is considerable and frequent train arrivals at the station, the arrival headway for the first group or several groups of trains will exceed the headway, but the subsequent sets of trains will have a headway equal to the arrival headway. This convergence characteristic is obtained by appropriately increasing the running time.

According to this pattern, there is no need to overly emphasize the impact of train arrival headway on the headway. This plays an important role in compressing train headway and improving high-speed railway capacity.

Using the strong motion data of K-net in Japan, the continuous magnitude prediction method based on support vector machine (SVM) was studied.

In the range of 0.5–10.0 s after the P-wave arrival, the prediction time window was established at an interval of 0.5 s. 12 P-wave characteristic parameters were selected as the model input parameters to construct the earthquake early warning (EEW) magnitude prediction model (SVM-HRM) for high-speed railway based on SVM.

The magnitude prediction results of the SVM-HRM model were compared with the traditional magnitude prediction model and the high-speed railway EEW current norm. Results show that at the 3.0 s time window, the magnitude prediction error of the SVM-HRM model is obviously smaller than that of the traditional τ_c method and P_d method. The overestimation of small earthquakes is obviously improved, and the construction of the model is not affected by epicenter distance, so it has generalization performance. For earthquake events with the magnitude range of 3–5, the single station realization rate of the SVM-HRM model reaches 95% at 0.5 s after the arrival of P-wave, which is better than the first alarm realization rate norm required by “The Test Method of EEW and Monitoring System for High-Speed Railway.” For earthquake events with magnitudes ranging from 3 to 5, 5 to 7 and 7 to 8, the single station realization rate of the SVM-HRM model is at 0.5 s, 1.5 s and 0.5 s after the P-wave arrival, respectively, which is better than the realization rate norm of multiple stations.

At the latest, 1.5 s after the P-wave arrival, the SVM-HRM model can issue the first earthquake alarm that meets the norm of magnitude prediction realization rate, which meets the accuracy and continuity requirements of high-speed railway EEW magnitude prediction.