Does the China Railway Express Promote Equitable Regional Development?Evidence from Manufacturing Relocation

The China Railway Express(CRE)has improved regional economic integration with external markets and has reshaped regional development by encouraging the relocation of manufacturing activities("manufacturing transfer").We analyzed data from 284 prefecture-level cities in China to evaluate the impact of the CRE on regional manufacturing relocation,using a staggered difference-in-diferences model with entropy balancing.We found that the launch of the CRE significantly stimulated the relocation of manufacturing industries to node cities-key hubs for transportation and logistics within the CRE network-especially in the central,western,and northeastern regions.Specifically,the CRE significantly increased manufacturing dynamism,firm profitability,openness,and foreign investment in node cities,which attracted more manufacturing industries to relocate in this area.Higher levels of infrastructure development moderated the CRE's effect.Further analysis showed that significant moderating effects of infrastructure development occurred only in the western region.Overall,our conclusions provide useful insights into how to promote equitable regional development through manufacturing development in China.

Intelligent construction technology of railway engineering in China

Intelligent construction technology has been widely used in the field of railway engineering.This work first analyzes the connotation,function,and characteristics of intelligent construction of railway engineering(ICRE)and establishes its system structure from three dimensions,namely,life cycle,layers of management,and intelligent function,to deeply understand the development situation of intelligent railway construction in China.Second,seven key technical support systems of ICRE,which include building information modeling(BIM)standard system for China’s railway sector,technology management platform and life cycle management based on BIM-hGIS(geography information system),ubiquitous intelligent perception system,intelligent Intemet-of-Things(IoT)communication system based on mobile interconnection,construction management platform based on cloud computing and big data,unmanned operation system based on artificial intelligence,intelligent machinery and robot,and intelligent operation and maintenance system based on BIM and PHM(prediction and health management),are established.Third,ICRE is divided into three development stages:primary(perception),intermediate(substitution),and advanced(intelligence).The evaluation index system of each stage is provided from the aspects of technology and function.Finally,this work summarizes and analyzes the application situation of ICRE in the entire railway sector of China,represented by Beijing-Zhangjiakou and Beijing-Xiong’an high-speed railways.Result shows that the technical support systems of the ICRE have emerged in China and are still in the process of deepening basic technology research and preliminary application.In the future,the ICRE of China’s railway sector will develop toward a higher stage.