Railway and road infrastructure in the Belt and Road Initiative countries: Estimating the impact of transport infrastructure on economic growth

•The impact of the railway and road infrastructure on economic growth is examined.•The data covers 65 BRI countries from 2007 to 2016.•Four spatial weight matrices are applied in the spatial econometrics.•Results show different impacts from the national and regional perspectives.•Policy implications for driving economic growth in BRI countries are presented.