The paper starts with a survey on the demands of train passengers from Shanghai to Nanjing on facilities surrounding the railway station, initiating a discussion on the direction of industrial transformation in the station area. Then, on the basis of a questionnaire on passengers’ choice of traveling modes and affordable time to various facilities, the paper studies the scale of spatial layers of railway stations, the distribution characteristics of industries, as well as the related land-use pattern, through an analysis on the traveling distance features of passengers. In the end, with a case study on Changzhou station on the Shanghai-Nanjing high-speed railway line, the paper suggests a method defining the land development intensity degree that is based on the capacity of local transportation. Moreover, the study on the spatial development mechanism for transport-oriented inter-city railway station area that is conducted in the paper will efficiently coordinate and optimize the spatial development and the efficiency promotion, and balance the relationship between the concentration of city functions and the degree of transportation convenience, which possess guiding significance to the planning and construction of station areas along the inter-city railway. The paper starts with a survey on the demands of train passengers from Shanghai to Nanjing on facilities surrounding the railway station, initiating a discussion on the direction of industrial transformation in the station area. Then, on the basis of a questionnaire on passengers’ choice of traveling modes and affordable time to various facilities, the paper studies the scale of spatial layers of railway stations, the distribution characteristics of industries, as well as the related land-use pattern, through an analysis on the traveling distance features of passengers. In the end, with a case study on Changzhou station on the Shanghai-Nanjing high-speed railway line, the paper suggests a method defining the land development intensity degree that is based on the capacity of local transportation. Moreover, the study on the spatial development mechanism for transport-oriented inter-city railway station area that is conducted in the paper will efficiently coordinate and optimize the spati al development and the efficiency promotion, and balance the relationship between the concentration of city functions and the degree of transportation convenience, which posse guiding significance to the planning and construction of station areas along the inter-city railway.