Comprehensive Sustainability Evaluation of High-Speed Railway (HSR) Construction Projects Based on Unascertained Measure and Analytic Hierarchy Process

This paper aims to evaluate the sustainability of high-speed railway (HSR) construction projects in a comprehensive manner. To this end, the author established an index system, involving 4 primary indices, 9 secondary indices, and 32 tertiary indices. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the unascertained measure were introduced to calculate the weights of these indices. Then, the index system was applied to evaluate the sustainability of the China's Harbin-Dalian Passenger Dedicated Line (PDL). The results show that the Harbin-Dalian PDL project achieved good results in terms of process, economic benefit, impact, and sustainability, and will bring long-term benefits in the fields of tourism, economy, and transport capacity, as well as many other fields. In spite of its good overall sustainability, the project needs to further increase its economic benefits and reduce its negative environmental impact. For this purpose, it is necessary to adopt the management mode of "separation between network and transportation" and apply noise prevention measures like noise barriers, tunnels, and overhead viaducts. This research lays a solid basis for the sustainability evaluation of HSR construction projects, and simplifies the modelling process for designers of HSR.