Objective Megacities behemoths generally face transformation and development requirements such as controlling the total population and guiding a rational distribution of population. Urban rail transit stations are typically located in areas with high population density, and it is therefore necessary to evaluate their PAE (population aggregation effect).

Method The concept of the PAE of urban rail transit stations and its measurement methods are defined. Taking Chengdu as the main research object, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen as the benchmarking cities, a node-function-quality model is constructed for Chengdu rail transit system to explore the underlying causes of the population aggregation effect.

Result & Conclusion  The advantageous radius of urban rail transit station PAE is generally within 800 m. Within the 0-15 km urban circle, the PAE effect of Chengdu rail transit stations is lower than that of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen; within the 15-30 km urban circle, Chengdu ranks first in population aggregation effect among the compared cities. To enhance the PAE, for node-imbalanced stations within the Third Ring Road of Chengdu's core urban area, station transfer conditions should be improved; for function and node-imbalanced stations outside the Third Ring Road in Chengdu, the degree of mixed land use and the importance of the network should be improved respectively; for function and quality-imbalanced stations in the central urban area, functional layout, development intensity, quality of public services, and spatial environment should be optimized respectively.