{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,29]],"date-time":"2026-05-29T16:54:06Z","timestamp":1780073646229,"version":"3.54.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"8","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,8,8]],"date-time":"2018-08-08T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1533686400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["No. 51478199"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["No. 51478199"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["51538004"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["51538004"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002858","name":"China Postdoctoral Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2018M632860"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2018M632860"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002858","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002858","name":"China Postdoctoral Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2017M623112"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2017M623112"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002858","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJGI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>China\u2019s high speed rail (HSR) network has been rapidly constructed and developed during the past 10 years. However, few studies have reported the spatiotemporal changes of railway network structures and how those structures have been affected by the operation of high speed rail systems in different periods. This paper analyzes the evolving network characteristics of China\u2019s railway network during each of the four main stages of HSR development over a 10-year period. These four stages include Stage 1, when no HSR was in place prior to August 2008; Stage 2, when several HSR lines were put into operation between August 2008, and July 2011; Stage 3, when the network skeleton of most main HSR lines was put into place. This covered the period until January 2013. Finally, Stage 4 covers the deep intensification of several new HSR lines and the rapid development of intercity-HSR railway lines between January 2013, and July 2017. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the timetable-based statistical properties of China\u2019s railway network, as well as the spatiotemporal patterns of the more than 2700 stations that have been affected by the opening of HSR lines and the corresponding policy changes. Generally, we find that the distribution of both degrees and strengths are characterized by scale-free patterns. In addition, the decreasing average path length and increasing network clustering coefficient indicate that the small world characteristic is more significant in the evolution of China\u2019s railway network. Correlations between different network indices are explored, in order to further investigate the dynamics of China\u2019s railway system. Overall, our study offers a new approach for assessing the growth and evolution of a real railway network based on train timetables. Our study can also be referenced by policymakers looking to adjust HSR operations and plan future HSR routes.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijgi7080320","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,8,9]],"date-time":"2018-08-09T03:33:48Z","timestamp":1533785628000},"page":"320","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":35,"title":["Exploring Railway Network Dynamics in China from 2008 to 2017"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"7","author":[{"given":"Yaping","family":"Huang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"},{"name":"Hubei Engineering and Technology Research Center of Urbanization, Wuhan 430074, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shiwei","family":"Lu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China"},{"name":"Hubei Engineering and Technology Research Center of Urbanization, Wuhan 430074, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2507-4757","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiping","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Geography and Tourism, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi\u2019an 710119, China"},{"name":"Geomatics Technology and Application key Laboratory of Qinghai Province, Xining 810001, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhiyuan","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National &amp; Local Joint Engineering Research Center of Geo-spatial Information Technology, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou 350002, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Spatial Data Mining &amp; Information Sharing of MOE, Fuzhou 350002, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,8,8]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"765","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tra.2009.07.003","article-title":"Spatiotemporal evolution of China\u2019s railway network in the 20th century: An accessibility approach","volume":"43","author":"Wang","year":"2009","journal-title":"Transp. 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