DOES HIGH-SPEED PASSENGER RAILWAY INCREASE FOREIGN TRADE? AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

摘要

High-speed passenger railway (HSR) transport reduces travel time for travellers and it may well also have a positive effect on freight transport. The construction of many of these lines, which run in parallel to conventional railways, has significantly reduced the commute time between interconnected cities. Moreover, deployment of the HSR network has freed capacity of the low-speed tracks, which have absorbed most of the freight railway traffic. Therefore, HSR infrastructure represents an advantage for exporting companies, which benefit from higher slot availability and greater efficiency in terms of railway freight management. This empirical paper uses the gravity equation to analyse the impact of HSR on international trade with a dataset of 119 countries during the period 1960-2012. The estimation results suggest an overall positive but moderate impact of HSR on international trade. However, a country-specific analysis reveals certain heterogeneity.