Page 64 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 6

Givoni, Moshe. Chen, Xueming.

1. Introduction

Despite its potential benefits, the idea of air–rail integration (Givoni 2007a; Givoni and Banister
2006) is not gaining ground, even at times when congestion at airports increases. It is not that
policy makers are blind to the idea. The EU, in its 2011 Transport White Paper, declares 10
goals one of which (Target 6) is ‘By 2050, connect all core network airports to the rail network,
preferably high-speed’ (EC 2011, 9). Calls for integration are heard elsewhere as well. Yet,
despite integrated transport in general, and air– rail integration more specifically, being a
formal policy objective there is not much evidence of it. More common is for the disintegration
of modes to prevail, especially between air and rail transport with London Heathrow airport
being a prime example. Givoni and Rietveld (2008) and later Givoni (2015) try to provide
some explanations for this lack of air–rail integration. While the roots of the problem are traced
back to the institutional division between the air and rail industries and between air and rail
policy making, the practical and most tangible obstacle for air and rail integration is a lack of
infrastructure to support it – i.e. high-quality rail station at the airport.
This obstacle has been realized in China and led to the construction of many Integrated
Transport Hubs, primarily as part of the construction of the high-speed rail (HSR) network and
stations (Hickman et al. 2015). Many of these integrated hubs include an airport adjacent to
HSR station, offering the infrastructure for air-rail integration. A prime example of the newly
built integrated hubs is ‘Shanghai Hongqiao Integrated Transport Hub’ that includes Shanghai
Hongqiao Airport (one of two major airports in the city) and Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station
(one of three major stations in the city) alongside a large metro and bus stations (see more
details below and in Chen and Lin 2016). At least from an infrastructural perspective, Hongqiao
hub provides the conditions to become a blueprint for air–rail integration. Examining to what
extent this is the case in practice is the main objective of this paper. Overall, and unlike Chen
and Lin (2016) who see the Hongqiao hub as a case of air–rail integration and through their
analysis suggests way to further improve it, the analysis here shows that Shanghai Hongqiao
Integrated Transport Hub is more a case of airline and railway disintegration and in this context
aims to provide an analysis of the potential for such integration and what might stands in its
way.
To achieve its aim and objective, the paper first reintroduces the model of airline and railway
integration and briefly discusses the emergence of the Integrated Hub concept in China (The
Integrated hub model) before providing a detailed description of Hongqiao hub from supply and
demand perspectives (Shanghai Hongqiao Integrated Transport Hub). Current and future air–rail
integration at the hub are then examined (current and future air–rail integration) followed by
the assessment of the potential for air and rail integration (assessing the potential for airrail
integration). The paper ends by providing key policy conclusions for the promotion of air-
rail integration and the challenges in overcoming current air–rail disintegration (Conclusions
and discussion). The analysis relies on a range of sources and primarily Hongqiao Hub plans
alongside airline and railways schedules.
2. The Integrated hub model

2.1 The concept of the Integrated hub

As illustrated in Figure 1, in an airline’s Hub and Spoke (H&S) network, which was adopted by
many of the major airlines after the deregulation of the U.S. air passenger market in 1978, two
types of network models can be distinguished: (1) the Hinterland model: short-haul flights feed
traffic into long-haul flights; and (2) the Hourglass model: short-haul services are replaced by
the more profitable long-haul flights (Doganis and Dennis 1989 in Button and Stough 2000).

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