Can international railway express improve green total factor productivity?

The establishment of China-Europe Railway Express (CR Express) within the framework of the “One Belt and One Road” initiative has provided a new avenue for economic openness. However, this development has also led to industrial agglomeration along the railway, which may impose potential environmental pressures on the cities along its route. Utilizing a panel data covering prefecture-level cities from 2008 to 2019, this research employs the staggered difference-in-differences (DID) method to examine the effects of CR Express on urban green total factor productivity (GTFP) and the underlying mechanisms. The findings indicate that the opening of CR Express significantly enhances the GTFP of node cities. Specifically, the introduction of freight trains on average increases the GTFP of node cities by 3.3%. However, the impact varies across different channels, regions, and coverage areas. Regarding the influencing mechanisms, it is found that CR Express improves the GTFP of node cities through the facilitation of green innovation and industrial agglomeration. Given these results, we emphasize the importance of continuously promoting, supporting, and guiding more inland cities to actively participate in the Economic Belt along the CR Express, either directly or indirectly. Additionally, node cities government should encourage green innovation and foster a favorable business environment to further enhance the green innovation capabilities of cities and promote industrial agglomeration, ultimately advancing the high-level economic openness of cities.