The arrival of the era of high-speed railway has changed the allocation of resources in the regions along the high-speed railway and the economic development of the cities along the railway, and endowed the broader value and significance to the construction and management of high-speed railway projects, and put forward higher requirements and challenges to the project planning and management. The purpose of this paper was to solve the current problem of the cognitive limitations of high-speed railway corridor and promote the formation and mature of high-speed railway corridor and realize the common vision of having an optimal impact on the region along the route. Through the literature research and knowledge map to understand the research situation at home and abroad. Then through intensive reading literature and government policy documents, from two aspects of academic and practical to deeply analyze the connotation of high-speed railway corridor and further clarify high-speed railway corridor’s boundaries and multiple stakeholders. On this basis, a theoretical framework for the construction and management of high-speed railway corridors was constructed by using engineering management thinking, with the aim of achieving the optimal allocation of resources in areas along the high-speed railway line, maximizing the impact of high-speed railway on cities along the line, and promoting the formation, maturity, and sustainable development of high-speed rail corridors. The research results are drawn as follows. 1) Research on high-speed railway corridors at home and abroad is relatively scattered, and the research is not rich and systematic enough, with the vast majority of research remaining at the micro and meso levels. 2) The connotation of high-speed railway corridors includes: comprehensive transportation trunk lines centered around high-speed railway; urbanization construction based on high-speed railway stations and the construction of large and medium-sized cities; industrial cooperation based on promoting optimized allocation of factors; a belt shaped regional economic system with the goal of resource sharing and achieving regional integration development. 3) The construction management concept, target management, organizational system, implementation mode, and support system are important components of the theoretical system of high-speed railway corridor construction management. The contents of each part closely relate and interact with each other. It forms an organic whole that can effectively guide the formation, maturity, and sustainable development of the high-speed railway corridor. The research results can fill the gap in theoretical research related to high-speed railway corridors, and help improve the cognitive level of high-speed railway project managers, and provide theoretical basis for achieving balanced development of areas along the high-speed railway line. The research results have important theoretical and practical significance. © 2024, Central South University Press. All rights reserved.