The Significance of Urban Rail Transit Systems in Mitigating Air Pollution Effects: The Case of China

Abstract

Air pollution is a global problem and the transportation industry is one of its major causes, yet the impact of transportation infrastructure on air quality is little understood. It is vital to know about evaluating the effects of transportation infrastructure on air quality. The urban road has a role in defining air pollution and automobiles significantly contribute to the air quality in urban areas. The issues are a result of the automobile’s impact on air quality. China put substantial investments in its metropolitan subway networks. The information on air quality on an hourly basis, daily metrological data, and demographic profiles of various cities with significant subways from the year 2013 to the year 2014 used. This study examines the effect of substantial investment on urban air quality. The Discontinuity Based Ordinary Least Squares (DB-OLS) on data for further analysis with results are incorporated in the study. The researchers witnessed a 14% reduction in air pollution during the daytime in those not rushed cities. Researchers discovered that the impacts are less severe in urban areas with a lower population density and a higher income. The results will be less dangerous if more subways affect the air quality.

Impact of increased subway station density on air quality in the Yangtze River Delta

“…Several studies have found that air quality improves after the opening of subway lines, and they argue that the presence of subways increases the public's travel choices, which in turn reduces the reliance on motor vehicles as a way to improve air quality; for example, Chen and Whalley (2012) and Zheng et al (2019) found that carbon monoxide (CO) emissions were significantly reduced after the opening of subway lines in Taipei and Changsha. In addition, Sun et al (2022) found that concentrations of PM2.5 and other pollutants were significantly reduced after the opening of subway lines in cities such as Wuhan and Nanjing.…”

“…In previous studies, scholars have often used the 'opening of a new subway line' as an explanatory variable, that is, using the date of the 'opening of a new subway line' as the origin and applying breakpoint regression analyses to compare the changes in air quality before and after the date of the line's opening. Some studies have shown that air quality improves after opening a new subway line (Liang and Xi 2016, Guo and Chen 2019, Sun et al 2022, while others have revealed that opening a new subway line leads to the deterioration of air quality (Wang et al 2020, Jiao et al 2022.…”

Numerical Investigations of Tribological Characteristics of Biomimetic-Textured Surfaces

“…Rail transport is more environmentally friendly and sustainable than other modes of transportation [1]. However, with the widespread use of rail transport, its energy consumption base has also become huge, and carbon neutrality and carbon peak policies have placed higher energy-saving and emission requirements on it [2].…”