Dear Colleagues,

Over long distances, railway freight transportation is known to yield a considerably lower emissions intensity, i.e, greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), per ton-mile or tonne-kilometer, compared to trucking. There is also an ongoing shortage of truck drivers in many parts of the world, including Europe, India, and North America. Further, given the current pandemic situation, the labor productivity of railway freight (versus trucking) reduces the number of workers crossing provincial, state and national borders and facilitates social distancing. Regarding passenger transportation, the railways offer lower emissions intensity vis-à-vis automobile, again over long distances. Of course, travel by private car facilitates social distancing during a pandemic. In some traffic lanes, railway travel is also more environmentally-friendly and economic compared to air travel.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to look into sustainable railway transportation in these uncertain times. The topic spans railway sustainability across the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of sustainability. It includes both freight and passenger railways, as well as comparing railway transport with modal alternatives, such as air, automobile, trucking, and water.  The issue is open to a wide range of theoretical perspectives on sustainability, as well as a variety of research methods, e.g., case study, survey, analysis of secondary data, analytical or simulation modeling, etc.

Relevent specific topics include, but are not limited to:

• Sustainable railway technology
• Sustainable railway operations
• The role of government regulations in sustainable railway operations
• Sustainability reporting in the railway industry
• Measuring railway sustainability
• Sustainability of railway freight compared to alternatives
• Sustainability of passenger rail travel compared to alternatives
• Railway transport of petroleum products
• Impact of the pandemic on sustainable railway transportation
• Impact of low (or high) fuel prices on sustainable railway transportation

Prof. Paul D. Larson
Guest Editor

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• sustainability
• freight transportation
• emissions
• labor shortage
• fuel prices
• pandemic
• passenger transportation