Skip to main content
Log in

Exploring Business Networks Along the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor: A Study on Identifying City Linkages

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Transportation in Developing Economies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The study aimed to explore the business networks along the Mumbai–Ahmedabad high-speed rail (MAHSR) corridor and identify the linkages between the cities along its route. Using a network analysis technique, we map and examine the relationships and interdependencies among 297,000 firms in four cities along the MAHSR corridor. The analysis deduces three distinct types of networks that exist among businesses along the MAHSR corridor. Our findings suggest that the MAHSR project can potentially strengthen business networks and create new connections between cities, particularly in finance, trading, and business services. Our study contributes to the growing literature on polycentric megaregion. It provides insights into the potential benefits and challenges of the MAHSR project for business networks and regional development in India.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

(source: author)

Fig. 2

(source: author)

Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

Not applicable.

References

  1. Adler P, Florida R (2020) Geography as strategy: the changing geography of corporate headquarters in post-industrial capitalism. Reg Stud 54(5):610–620. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2019.1634803

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Japan International Consultants for Transportation Co., Ltd. Oriental Consultants Global Co., Ltd. Nippon Koei Co., Ltd (2015) Joint Feasibility study for Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed railway corridor final report volume 1. 1(5). https://www.jica.go.jp/Resource/english/our_work/social_environmental/id/asia/south/india/c8h0vm00009v1ylc-att/c8h0vm0000bzv4e5.pdf

  3. Alkaabi KA (2014) Transport systems and U.A.E. Urban development: multimodal transport facilities in a polycentric urban region. Arab World Geographer 17(2):105–126

    Google Scholar 

  4. Amos P, Bullock D, Sondhi J (2010) High-Speed rail : the fast track to economic development ? World Bank, Singapore

    Book  Google Scholar 

  5. Bastian M, Heymann S, Jacomy M (2009) Gephi: an open source software for exploring and manipulating networks. Proc Int AAAI Conf Web Soc Media 3(1):361–362. https://doi.org/10.1609/icwsm.v3i1.13937

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. BB & CI Railway (1914) BB & CI Railway Longest Bombay Line. Times of India. https://archivfuehrer-kolonialzeit.de/index.php/hamburgisches-kolonialinstitut-1 Accessed June 2019

  7. Berg L, Pol P (1998) The European high-speed train-network and urban development: experiences in fourteen European urban regions. (European Institute for Comparative Urban Research, Ed.). Ashgate, Aldershot

  8. Bharule SP, Kidokoro T (2017) Indian cities in transition case of Indian state capital cities. Proceedings 2017 of International Conference of Asian-Pacific Planning Societies (APPS), Nagoya, Japan 330

  9. Castells M (1996) The rise of the network society—the information age: economy, society, and culture. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  10. Castells M (2010) The information age: economy, society and culture, vol III. Blackwell, Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444318234

    Book  Google Scholar 

  11. Chantruthai P, Taneerananon S, Taneerananon P (2014) A study of competitiveness between low cost airlines and high-speed-rail: a case study of southern corridor in Thailand. Eng J 18(2):141–161. https://doi.org/10.4186/ej.2014.18.2.141

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Chapman D, Pratt D, Larkham P, Dickins I (2003) Concepts and definitions of corridors: evidence from England’s Midlands. J Transp Geogr 11(3):179–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0966-6923(03)00029-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Chaudhuri KN (1963) The East India Company and the export of treasure in the early seventeenth century. Econ Hist Rev 16(1):23. https://doi.org/10.2307/2592514

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Chen CL, Loukaitou-Sideris A, de Ureña JM, Vickerman R (2019) Spatial short and long-term implications and planning challenges of high-speed rail: a literature review framework for the special issue. Eur Plan Stud 27(3):415–433. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2018.1562658

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Cheng Y, Loo BPY, Vickerman R (2015) High-speed rail networks, economic integration and regional specialisation in China and Europe. Travel Behav Soc 2(1):1–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbs.2014.07.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Copus AK (2009) From core-periphery to polycentric development: concepts of spatial and aspatial peripherality. Eur Plan Stud 9(4):539–552. https://doi.org/10.1080/713666491

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Duranton G, Puga D (2000) Diversity and specialisation in cities: why, where and when does it matter? Urban Stud. https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098002104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Duranton G, Puga D (2001) Nursery cities: urban diversity, process innovation, and the life cycle of products. Am Econ Rev. https://doi.org/10.1257/aer.91.5.1454

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Duranton G, Puga D (2005) From sectoral to functional urban specialisation. J Urban Econ. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2004.12.002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Duranton G, Puga D (2014) The growth of cities. Handb Econ Growth. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-53540-5.00005-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Duranton G, Puga D (2015) Urban land use. Handb Reg Urban Econ. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-59517-1.00008-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Florida R (2003) Rise of the creative class. Tandem Library

  23. Florida R (2017) The economic geography of talent. Econ Crit Essays Hum Geogr 92(4):305–317. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351159203-14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Forewords|Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation|Government of India (1998). http://mospi.nic.in/classification/national-industrial-classification/forewords. Accessed 18 Sept 2021

  25. Friedmann J (1963) Regional planning as a field of study. J Am Plann Assoc 29(3):168–175. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944366308978061

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Fujita M, Krugman P, Mori T (1999) On the evolution of hierarchical urban systems. Eur Econ Rev. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0014-2921(98)00066-X

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Fujita M, Mori T (1996) The role of ports in the making of major cities: Self-agglomeration and hub-effect. J Dev Econ. https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3878(95)00054-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Fujita M, Mori T (2005) Transport development and the evolution of economic geography. Port Econ J. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10258-005-0042-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Georg I, Blaschke T, Taubenböck H (2016) A global inventory of urban corridors based on perceptions and night-time light imagery. ISPRS Int J Geo Inf 5(12):233. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi5120233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Goess S, de Jong M, Meijers E (2016) City branding in polycentric urban regions: identification, profiling and transformation in the Randstad and Rhine-Ruhr. Eur Plan Stud 24(11):2036–2056. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2016.1228832

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. González-González E, Nogués S (2016) Regional polycentricity: an indicator framework for assessing cohesion impacts of railway infrastructures. Eur Plan Stud 24(5):950–973. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2016.1142506

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Hall P (2009) Looking backward, looking forward: the city region of the Mid-21st Century. Reg Stud. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343400903039673

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Hall P (2014) Irrigating the Regions. In: Peter Hall S (Ed) Supporting growth through regional connectivity: Sintropher. University College London, Sintropher, pp 10–18. https://sintropher.eu/sites/default/files/sintropher_conference_web.pdf

  34. Hall P, Pain K (2006) The polycentric metropolis. In: The polycentric metropolis: learning from mega-city regions in Europe. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781849773911

  35. Hall P, Pain K (2012) The polycentric metropolis: learning from mega-city regions in Europe. In: The polycentric metropolis: learning from mega-city regions in Europe. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781849773911

  36. Heywood P (2008) The place of knowledge-based development in the metropolitan region. In: Creative urban regions: harnessing urban technologies to support knowledge city initiatives. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59904-838-3.ch001

  37. Hoyler M, Kloosterman RC, Sokol M (2008) Polycentric puzzles—emerging mega-city regions seen through the lens of advanced producer services. Reg Stud 42(8):1055–1064. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343400802389377

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Hung W (n.d.) Critical Issues of High Speed Rail Development in China (Issue Civil). http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/Engineering/research/CenterSustainableUrbanInfrastructure/LowCarbonCities/Documents/Wing-tatHung/WTHunghighspeedrail.pdf

  39. Industrial Policy Resolution (1956) Department of promotion of industry and internal trade. https://dpiit.gov.in/sites/default/files/chap001%20%2013.pdf

  40. Isabel G, Thomas B, Hannes T (2016) New spatial dimensions of global cityscapes: from reviewing existing concepts to a conceptual spatial approach. J Geogr Sci 26(3):355–380. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-016-1273-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  41. Knapp W (1998) The Rhine-Ruhr area in transformation: towards a European metropolitan region? Eur Plan Stud 6(4):379–393. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654319808720469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  42. Komikado H, Morikawa S, Bhatt A, Kato H (2021) High-speed rail, inter-regional accessibility, and regional innovation: evidence from Japan. Technol Forecast Soc Change 167:120697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120697

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Kosambi M (1985) Commerce, conquest and the colonial city: role of locational factors in rise of Bombay. Econpoliweek Econ Political Wkly 20(1): 32–37. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4373936

  44. Krishnan S (2013) Empire’s metropolis: money time & space in Colonial Bombay, 1870–1930 [Massachusetts Institute of Technology]. https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/86283

  45. Kumar D, Desai M (eds) (1983) The cambridge economic history of India. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521228022

    Book  Google Scholar 

  46. Loukaitou-Sideris A, Cuff D, Higgins T, Linovski O (2012) Impact of high speed rail stations on local development: a Delphi survey. Built Environ 38(1):51–70. https://doi.org/10.2148/benv.38.1.51

    Article  Google Scholar 

  47. Meijers E, Romein A, Hoppenbrouwer E (2003) Planning polycentric urban regions in North West Europe. In: Policy paper (Issue November 2014). papers://ef64220a-a077-48ec-ae81-be13b32d2073/Paper/p572

  48. Ministry of Corporate Affairs—about Master Data (2020). https://www.mca.gov.in/MinistryV2/aboutmasterdata.html. Accessed 17 Sept 2021

  49. Ministry of Railways (2017) In the presence of Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of Japan, Shri Shinzo Abe, Ceremony for commencement of Work for First High Speed Train Project (popularly referred as Bullet Train) between Mumbai Ahmedabad to take place on 14th September 2017. Press Information Bureau. http://pib.nic.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1502412. Accessed Sept 2017

  50. Murakami J, Cervero R (2017) High-speed rail and economic development: Business agglomerations and policy implications. In: High-speed rail and sustainability: decision-making and the political economy of investment. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315709406

  51. National Statistical Organization (2008) National Industrial Classification-2008. https://www.ncs.gov.in/Documents/NIC_Sector.pdf

  52. Neal ZP (2010) From central places to network bases: a transition in the US Urban Hierarchy, 1900–2000. City Community 10(1):49–75. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6040.2010.01340.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  53. NHSRCL (2020) NHSRCL: National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited. https://nhsrcl.in/en/home

  54. O’Connor J (2004) ‘A special kind of city knowledge’: innovative clusters, tacit knowledge and the ‘creative city’. Media Int Aust 112(1):131-149. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X0411200111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. Okada H (2007) High-speed railways in China. Jpn Rail Transp Rev 48, 22–29. http://www.ejrcf.or.jp/jrtr/jrtr48/pdf/f22_Oka.pdf

  56. Parr JB (2004) The polycentric urban region: a closer inspection. Reg Stud 38(3):231–240. https://doi.org/10.1080/003434042000211114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  57. Planning Commission (2019) National Plans: Planning Commission, Government of India. NITI Aayog. https://niti.gov.in/planningcommission.gov.in/docs/plans/planrel/index.php?state=planbody.htm

  58. Priemus H, Zonneveld W (2003) What are corridors and what are the issues? Introduction to special issue: the governance of corridors. Journal of Transport Geography 11(3):167–177. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0966-6923(03)00028-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  59. Puga D (1999) The rise and fall of regional inequalities. Eur Econ Rev. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0014-2921(98)00061-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

  60. Puga D (2002) European regional policies in light of recent location theories. J Econ Geogr. https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/2.4.373

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Raychaudhuri T, Chaudhuri KN (1980) The trading world of Asia and the English East India Company 1660–1760. Econ J 90(358):433. https://doi.org/10.2307/2231823

    Article  Google Scholar 

  62. Roy T (2011) The economic history of India, 1857–1947. Oxford University Press, Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198074175.001.0001

    Book  Google Scholar 

  63. Schönharting J, Schmidt A, Frank A, Bremer S (2003) Towards the multimodal transport of people and freight: Interconnective networks in the RheinRuhr Metropolis. J Transp Geogr 11(3):193–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0966-6923(03)00030-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. Sivaramakrishnan R (2010) [IRFCA] Bombay-Surat-Baroda-Ahmedabad railway, 1855. https://www.irfca.org/docs/history/au-news-bombay-surat-baroda-ahmedabad-etc-1855.html

  65. Smith M, Ceni A, Milic-Frayling N, Shneiderman B, Mendes Rodrigues E, Leskovec J, Dunne C (2010) NodeXL: a free and open network overview, discovery and exploration add-in for Excel 2007/2010/2013/2016, from the Social Media Research Foundation. https://www.smrfoundation.org

  66. Spiekermann K, Wegener M (1994) The shrinking continent: new time—space maps of Europe. Environ Plan B Plann Des 21(6):653–673. https://doi.org/10.1068/b210653

    Article  Google Scholar 

  67. Stubbs C (1907) Through Rajputana to Delhi: an illustrated guide to the districts reached by the Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway. The Times Press. https://archive.org/details/throughrajputan00stubgoog/page/n8/mode/2up

  68. Taubenböck H, Wiesner M (2015) The spatial network of megaregions—types of connectivity between cities based on settlement patterns derived from EO-data. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 54:165–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2015.07.001

    Article  Google Scholar 

  69. Terrin J-J (2016) High speed railway hubs in European medium-sized cities: the case of the ENTER.HUB network. Open Transp J 10(Suppl-1 M11):119–123. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874447801610010119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  70. van den Berg L, Pol PMJ (1998) The urban implications of the developing European high-speed-train network. Eviron Plan C Gov Policy 16(4):483–497. https://doi.org/10.1068/c160483

    Article  Google Scholar 

  71. Vickerman R (2015) High-speed rail and regional development: the case of intermediate stations. J Transp Geogr 42:157–165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2014.06.008

    Article  Google Scholar 

  72. Vickerman R, Spiekermann K, Wegener M (1999) Accessibility and economic development in Europe. Reg Stud 33(1):1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00343409950118878

    Article  Google Scholar 

  73. Wang L, Liu Y, Mao L, Sun C (2018) Potential impacts of China 2030 high-speed rail network on ground transportation accessibility. Sustainability (Switzerland) 10(4):1–16. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10041270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  74. Yang H (2018) High-speed railways and urban networks in China. Ipskamp Printing, Enschede. ISBN (Print): 978-94-028-0998-5

  75. Yang H, Dijst M, Witte P, van Ginkel H, Yang W (2018) The spatial structure of high speed railways and urban networks in China: a flow approach. Tijdschr Econ Soc Geogr 109(1):109–128. https://doi.org/10.1111/tesg.12269

    Article  Google Scholar 

  76. Zhang Q, Yang H, Wang Q (2017) Impact of high-speed rail on China’s big three airlines. Transp Res Part A Policy Pract 98(October 2013):77–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2017.02.005

    Article  Google Scholar 

  77. Zhao J, Rong W, Liu D (2023) Urban agglomeration high-speed railway backbone network planning: a case study of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, China. Sustainability 15(8):6450. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15086450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  78. Zhu Z, Lin X, Yang H (2021) Booming with speed: high-speed rail and regional green innovation. J Adv Transp 2021:1–22. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/9705982

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shreyas Bharule.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Bharule, S., Kidokoro, T. & Seta, F. Exploring Business Networks Along the Mumbai–Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor: A Study on Identifying City Linkages. Transp. in Dev. Econ. 10, 2 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40890-023-00189-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40890-023-00189-4

Keywords

Navigation