Is the High-Speed Railway Network Narrowing the Urban‒Rural Income Gap?

This study discusses the influence of China's high-speed rail (HSR) network on the urban‒rural income gap from 2003–2019. We find that China's HSR network has reduced the urban‒rural income gap since 2003, mainly by promoting industrial upgrading, industry agglomeration, and financial industry development. The results also show that the HSR network decreases the urban‒rural income gap in medium-sized cities but has nonsignificant effects on large and small cities. Additionally, the HSR network can reduce the urban‒rural income gap in cities with high betweenness centrality, whereas it has no significant effect on the urban‒rural income gap in cities with low betweenness centrality. The HSR network expands the urban‒rural income gap in provincial capital cities, whereas it narrows the gap in nonprovincial capital cities. Additionally, the HSR network reduces the urban–rural income gap more for cities with HSR stations far from the provincial capital than for cities with HSR stations close to the provincial capital. This study holds reference value for the spatial optimization of the HSR network.