Understanding High-Speed Rail Passengers in China: A Segmentation Approach

China has established the world’s largest high-speed rail (HSR) system, which has fundamentally changed the way people travel in the domestic market. As China aims to double its HSR capacity in the next few years, the HSR population will continue to grow, which calls for an in-depth understanding of HSR passengers. While HSR has been of academic interest for many years, existing research has not provided meaningful demographic segmentation in the HSR context. This paper collected empirical data from HSR passengers in Beijing and Shanghai, the largest HSR markets in China, and performed a cluster analysis based collectively on three demographic variables—age, income, and education, which led to the formation of four segments—High-Ed Youths, Mature Travelers, New Starters, and Elite Travelers. Significant differences were found in terms of the passenger demographics and travel experiences across the four segments, to support the validity of the clustering solutions. The multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) test further revealed cross-segment differences in terms of passenger evaluation of five HSR variables— reasonableness of price, reliability, food choices, employee service, and likelihood for recommendation, suggesting the possibility of predicting passenger perceptions and behaviors based on their cluster membership. The findings demonstrate that passenger segmentation based on multiple demographic variables can provide deeper insights into the HSR population. For HSR providers in China, an understanding of the characteristics of the four passenger segments can assist them in developing service and communication strategies to cater to the different passenger needs.