Geographic coarse graining analysis of the railway network of China

We investigate the detailed, empirical analysis of the statistical properties of the Railway Network of China (RNC) in space L and space G, constructed by geographic coarse graining process. The RNC exhibits similar properties in the cumulative distributions of degree and strength in two spaces, and it presents the hierarchical structure, small-world behavior and assortativity, areciprocal connection both in space L and space G. We also investigate the path length that every train runs, the distribution of the railroad length per degree and the optimal distribution of stations. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.