Sustainability by High–Speed Rail: The Reduction Mechanisms of Transportation Infrastructure on Haze Pollution

Abstract

Haze pollution impacts human health, as well as the competitive capabilities of firms and local economic development. Considerable attention has been given to the study of mechanisms for reducing haze pollution, but few studies have investigated the effect of city-to-city transportation infrastructures on environmental issues based on an institutional perspective. To address this research gap, this study advances our understanding by assessing the effect of city–to–city transportation on haze pollution caused by the operation of high-speed rail, which triggers the rapid flow of individuals and information, improves information transparency, as well as imposes institutional pressure on local governments and firms to reduce haze pollution. To further verify the underlying mechanisms, we tested the development of hard infrastructure (information communication technology) and soft infrastructure (market development level), which represent two conditions for which the mechanism is likely to be critical. We tested our hypotheses using a sample of 288 prefecture-level cities in China during the period from 2005 to 2016. The empirical results indicate that the operation of high-speed rail can reduce haze pollution by 17% on average.

Connection between the Spatial Characteristics of the Road and Railway Networks and the Air Pollution (PM10) in Urban–Rural Fringe Zones

“…As the above studies focused on diesel locomotives and railcars, our result can be explained by the fact that most European traffic consists of electric locomotives and high standards [17,40,57], the introduction of electric vehicles offers the potential for reductions in all road-traffic-related emissions [58,59], and the driving wind generated by trains has a cleansing effect on the air quality near railway lines, resulting in lower PM10 concentrations compared with other areas. Our research results are consistent with empirical results that indicate that the operation of a high-speed rail network can reduce haze pollution and PM10 concentrations [41].…”

“…The railway-induced contribution to the ambient PM concentration decreased rapidly as the distance from the tracks increased. At 120 m, this contribution dropped to only 25% of the contribution observed at a distance of 10 m. Chen et al [41] found that the operation of a high-speed rail network can reduce haze pollution by 17% on average.…”

Are Chinese Executives Rewarded or Penalized by the Operation of High-Speed Railways?

“…Second, climate information, such as the possible occurrence of debris flows, was collected. Third, historical information about the train line, such as whether there was a train line in the past, was collected [45,46]. This study tried to use the year gap between the HSR operation time and the first train line time as the instrumental variable.…”

“…Third, the positive relationship between HSR and executive compensation is stronger in low-visibility firms. Previous studies have studied the effect of HSR operation on environmental pollution [46] and corporate social responsibility [47] based on the social pressure perspective. Several studies, for example, that of Jin et al [48], from the information asymmetry perspective, have studied the HSR effect on firms' cross-region merger and acquisitions and obtained the conclusion that HSRs can reduce the degree of distance-induced information asymmetry between bidders and targets by reducing travel time and cost.…”

Analysis of the Impact of High-Speed Railway on County Economic Development Based on the Synthetic Control Method: The Hubei Province in China

“…HSR can increase the development potential of cities, drive the growth of urban land prices [4,5], and stimulate substantial increases in housing prices [6]. As an efficient, fast, green, and environmentally friendly means of transportation, the opening of HSR can greatly promote the improvement of traffic accessibility, reduce travel time costs [7,8], promote the rapid development of the tourism industry [9], and have a significantly positive effect on the improvement of the regional environment [10]. Also, the opening of HSR can attract more opportunities for economic development, and the construction, operation, maintenance, and management of HSR require a large amount of skilled labor, which creates abundant employment opportunities.…”