Exploring the differential impacts of station location on the coordinated development of high-speed rail stations and cities

The coordination between high-speed rail stations and cities is the foundation for the urban high-quality development, with station location as a crucial influencing factor. Understanding the differentiated impacts of station location on station-city coordination is essential for mitigating the risks of functional imbalance and disorderly urban growth. This study integrates the coupled coordination model, quantile regression, and decision tree model to examine the impact of station location on the cooperative development of stations and cities in China. The findings indicate that stations located at significant distances from city centers hinder the development of both station areas and station-city coordination, with the impact on the development of the station area being more pronounced than on the cooperative growth. Stations characterized by smaller scale, underdeveloped transportation infrastructure, and intermediate levels of station-city coordination experience more pronounced location-related limitations. Moreover, this study highlights the importance of transportation development and urban scale as key determinants in the station-city relationship. The study advocates for the alignment of urban transportation infrastructure and spatial development with the locations of established high-speed rail stations, with particular emphasis on enhancing the surrounding areas of marginal stations in smaller and medium-sized cities.