Hierarchical structure in the world's largest high-speed rail network

PLoS One. 2019 Feb 13;14(2):e0211052. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211052. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Presently, China has the largest high-speed rail (HSR) system in the world. However, our understanding of the network structure of the world's largest HSR system remains largely incomplete due to the limited data available. In this study, a publicly available data source, namely, information from a ticketing website, was used to collect an exhaustive dataset on the stations and routes within the Chinese HSR system. The dataset included all 704 HSR stations that had been built as of June, 2016. A classical set of frequently used metrics based on complex network theory were analyzed, including degree centrality, betweenness centrality, and closeness centrality. The frequency distributions of all three metrics demonstrated highly consistent bimodal-like patterns, suggesting that the Chinese HSR network consists of two distinct regimes. The results indicate that the Chinese HSR system has a hierarchical structure, rather than a scale-free structure as has been commonly observed. To the best of our knowledge, such a network structure has not been found in other railway systems, or in transportation systems in general. Follow-up studies are needed to reveal the formation mechanisms of this hierarchical network structure.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • China
  • Models, Theoretical*
  • Railroads*

Grants and funding

ML was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFC0506200), CX was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31770512) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (020814380089). SW was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41801107). HM was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41571151) ZYXH was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31870400). XY, and DS are employed by Nanjing Puhou Ecological Technology Company Limited. Nanjing Puhou Ecological Technology Company Limited provided support in the form of salaries for authors XY and DS, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.