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RESEARCH PRODUCT

High-speed rail in China and its territorial impact

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International audience; China has started a massive development of high-speed rail projects, as part of a stimulus package, to ease congestion on tracks and in the air, and to limit emission of greenhouse gases. It will affect the geography of China and on its cities. Experiences gathered in France by researchers of the " TGV effect " are put forward as questions to foster research on the changes induced by high-speed rail. A " shrinking of China " has begun. The 505 km Zhengzhou to Xi'an line has cut the travel time between these two cities from 6 to 2 hours. The 1069 km Wuguang line has slashed from 10,5 hours to 3 the travel time between Wuhan and Guangzhou. By making it easier to move people and goods, railroad construction may gradually shift the center of economic gravity inland, accelerating the development of central and western China. As better transportation links encourage manufacturers to relocate away from the coast, demand for property in the interior may grow, lifting consumer sentiment and retail sales. High-speed rail may also be a boon for tourism : coastal cities in Fujian or Shandong could become resort towns for Shanghai or Beijing residents during week-ends, in the same way that the TGV- Méditerranée allowes Parisians to spend weekends on Mediterranean coast. High-speed train also means building new train stations. Will these new train stations become major nodes of economic activity in increasingly multi-centered metropolises ? What should be the links between high-speed rail and airports ?