Purpose: Nowadays, governments around the world are active in constructing the high-speed railway. Therefore, it is significant to make research on this increasingly prevalent transport.

Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, we simulate the process of the passenger’s travel mode choice by adjusting the ticket fare and the run-time based on the multi-agent system (MAS).

Findings: From the research we get the conclusion that increasing the run-time appropriately and reducing the ticket fare in some extent are effective ways to enhance the passenger sharing of the high-speed railway.

Originality/value: We hope it can provide policy recommendations for the railway sectors in developing the long-term plan on high-speed railway in the future.