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Mankind is seeking a green development path. This paper places emphasis on whether high-speed railways (HSRs), as a typical representative of green transportation, can effectively promote green technology innovation in cities. Based on the panel data of 286 Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2007 to 2018, we employ the Panel Negative Binomial Regression Model and the Spatial Dubin Model for empirical analysis. The results illustrate that the expansion of HSRs not only has a direct and substantial promotion influence on local green technology innovation but also on the surrounding area. We further find that circulation node cities reap more benefits of the opening of HSRs than other ordinary cities. The higher the degree of marketization, the weaker the marginal impact of HSRs on green technology innovation. Meanwhile, the mechanism test confirms that HSRs can indirectly stimulate the progress of green technology innovation by influencing the creative class flow and the government’s environmental concerns. Our findings present new insights for enhancing green technology innovation and provide policy recommendations for local governments to take advantage of HSRs to obtain resources.

As part of the modern transport infrastructure, high-speed railways (HSRs) have been considered an important factor affecting eco-efficiency (EE). This study used multisource remote sensing and statistical data from 185 counties representing urban agglomerations in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (UAMRYR) in China from 2009 to 2018. The study integrated ArcGIS analysis, the Super-SBM (super slack-based measure) model, and the DSPDM (dynamic spatial panel Durbin model) to explore the spatial effects of HSRs on EE. The results showed that the coordinates of the interannual centers of gravity for EE and HSRs both fell in the same county, possessing similar parameter values for the standard deviation elliptical, a negative spatial mismatch index, and obvious spatial mismatch characteristics. In different spatially dislocated areas, the spatial effects of HSRs on EE are variable. Overall, the short-term effects are more intense than the long-term effects, and both the long-term and short-term effects are dominated by the effects of spatial spillover. A new perspective is proposed to explore the green development effects of HSRs, with a view to providing policy implications for the enhancement of EE and the planning of HSRs.