Abstract:As rail freight reform develops further, parcels transport by the high speed rail network is expanding in China. We explore the optimal operational method through case studies. Both France and Germany have operated parcels trains on their high speed networks, at a speed of 270 km/h and 160 km/h respectively; following the literature we consider both as high speed freight trains. The business model, transportation organization and performance are compared between Germany, France and China. The findings of our analysis suggest dedicated high speed freight trains are better than mixed trains at exploiting advantages of high speed railways and achieving economies of scale. However, the sensitivity analysis tells us the dedicated high speed freight train in China will require at least 5% mode share on the busiest routes like Beijing-Shanghai and Guangzhou-Shanghai and over 30% on less busy routes like Chengdu-Changsha. From German and French experience, volume guarantees seem crucial for the operation of high speed freight trains. Competitive price is also important to attract enough volume. The construction of a limited high speed rail freight network on key routes will permit exploitation of economies of scale. Also night trains are a better choice for parcels and mail delivery companies.

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Under the background of the economy “shifting from real to virtual”, how to guide real enterprises to return to their main businesses has become an urgent problem to be solved in the stage of microeconomic bodies moving toward high-quality development. Based on the perspective of the opening of high-speed railway (HSR), this paper builds a time-varying DID model to systematically test the relationship between HSR and corporate financialization by matching the data of HSR among 286 cities in China with the data of A-share non-financial companies listed in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets. The results showed that there is a significant negative correlation between HSR and corporate financialization, i.e., the opening of HSR can significantly inhibit corporate financialization. This conclusion still holds after a series of robustness tests. Mechanism analysis found that the opening of HSR can restrain corporate financialization through “crowding-out effects” and “liquidity replenishment effects”. Heterogeneity analysis showed that the inhibitory effect of HSR on corporate financialization is more significant in large enterprises, fiercely competitive industries, and cities with high initial transportation resources. This paper deeply explored the relationship between the opening of HSR and corporate financialization, which not only enriches the existing literature but also provides a useful reference for guiding real enterprises to actively return to their main businesses.

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