Abstract High-speed railway of China connects more than 100 cities of different levels, which takes a largescale inter-city passenger exchange, and its impact on urban development is gradually revealed. City connection role of HSR in reality, which is the research basis of interaction relationship between HSR development and urban development, should be examined and evaluated. Based on the field research about the 14 cities along the Beijing-Guangzhou HSR and nearly 3000 questionnairesacquired from all the high speed rail station, the paper analyzes the passenger flow direction and its characteristics between the cities. The result shows that, as an emerging means of transportation, the HSR is mainly bearing the passenger contact between the central cities and the ordinary cities currently, followed by the passenger contact between the central cities. Both the analysis on the passenger flow characteristics inside and outside the province and the north-south section further confirms the above conclusion. Econometric analysis of the factors affecting the passenger flow intensity shows that, the flow of between cities in the province is larger than the flow across the province, and the passenger flow intensity toward central cities is larger than that toward ordinary cities as well. The HSR passenger numbers between two cities are positively relate to the economic level of the two cities. The empirical study result shows that HSR strengthens the passenger contact between the central city and the ordinary city, however, whether this kind of connection will further polarize the central cities or central cities promote development of ordinary cities needs further study.
2015, Vol. 30 
