IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i24p16632-d1295739.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Trends and Challenges in Railway Sustainability: The State of the Art regarding Measures, Strategies, and Assessment Tools

Author

Listed:
  • Marinella Giunta

    (Civil, Energy, Environmental and Material Engineering Department—DICEAM, Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria, Via Zehender, 89124 Reggio, Italy)

Abstract

Rail is expected to become the backbone of future mobility in the world as the cleanest and greenest high-volume transport. Rail generates the lowest CO 2 emissions and energy consumption when in operation, with respect to the other transportation modes, but during construction and maintenance phases, its environmental impacts are significant and need to be carefully assessed and properly mitigated. This paper, through an extensive analysis of the recent literature, aims to provide a comprehensive framework of trends and challenges in railway sustainability, with particular attention paid to track and related materials and components, maintenance strategies, and methods of assessment of sustainability. The followed approach takes into consideration the lifespan of the track and the related main stages. The results show that: (i) several innovative sustainable materials have been introduced with significant environmental performances and limitations, mainly due to the lack of knowledge of long-term mechanical behavior; (ii) appropriate strategies of maintenance, supported by effective monitoring of the track conditions, can reduce negative effects on the environment and society and contribute to making this transportation mode greener; (iii) many devices for the automated detection of the track defects allow increasingly widespread and effective monitoring of the track and are essential means in overcoming the challenge of “smart rails”; and (iv) life cycle assessment (LCA) and circularity metrics are effective and indispensable tools in the decision-making process, since they help to quantify the potential environmental enhancement of different materials and solutions.

Suggested Citation

  • Marinella Giunta, 2023. "Trends and Challenges in Railway Sustainability: The State of the Art regarding Measures, Strategies, and Assessment Tools," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-19, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:24:p:16632-:d:1295739
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/24/16632/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/24/16632/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Erika Palin & Hazel Thornton & Camilla Mathison & Rachel McCarthy & Robin Clark & John Dora, 2013. "Future projections of temperature-related climate change impacts on the railway network of Great Britain," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 120(1), pages 71-93, September.
    2. Alan Murray & Keith Skene & Kathryn Haynes, 2017. "The Circular Economy: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of the Concept and Application in a Global Context," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(3), pages 369-380, February.
    3. Praneeth Chandran & Johnny Asber & Florian Thiery & Johan Odelius & Matti Rantatalo, 2021. "An Investigation of Railway Fastener Detection Using Image Processing and Augmented Deep Learning," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Clara Celauro & Andrea Cardella & Marco Guerrieri, 2023. "LCA of Different Construction Choices for a Double-Track Railway Line for Sustainability Evaluations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-20, March.
    5. Julia Milewicz & Daniel Mokrzan & Grzegorz M. Szymański, 2023. "Environmental Impact Evaluation as a Key Element in Ensuring Sustainable Development of Rail Transport," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-16, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tina Wiegand & Martin Wynn, 2023. "Sustainability, the Circular Economy and Digitalisation in the German Textile and Clothing Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-30, June.
    2. Mechthild Donner & Anne Verniquet & Jan Broeze & Katrin Kayser & Hugo de Vries, 2021. "Critical success and risk factors for circular business models valorising agricultural waste and by-products," Post-Print hal-03004851, HAL.
    3. German Arana‐Landin & Waleska Sigüenza & Beñat Landeta‐Manzano & Iker Laskurain‐Iturbe, 2024. "Circular economy: On the road to ISO 59000 family of standards," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(3), pages 1977-2009, May.
    4. Durán-Romero, Gemma & López, Ana M. & Beliaeva, Tatiana & Ferasso, Marcos & Garonne, Christophe & Jones, Paul, 2020. "Bridging the gap between circular economy and climate change mitigation policies through eco-innovations and Quintuple Helix Model," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    5. Patricia van Loon & Luk N. Van Wassenhove & Ales Mihelic, 2022. "Designing a circular business strategy: 7 years of evolution at a large washing machine manufacturer," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 1030-1041, March.
    6. Millar, Neal & McLaughlin, Eoin & Börger, Tobias, 2019. "The Circular Economy: Swings and Roundabouts?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 11-19.
    7. Pengen Mai & Steven James Day, 2023. "Persuading Reluctant Customers: The Online Marketing Communications of Car Sharing Firms," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-18, December.
    8. L. Rocchi & L. Paolotti & C. Cortina & F. F. Fagioli & A. Boggia, 2021. "Measuring circularity: an application of modified Material Circularity Indicator to agricultural systems," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-13, December.
    9. Benedetta Cotta, 0. "What goes around, comes around? Access and allocation problems in Global North–South waste trade," International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-15.
    10. Hyunkyu Shin & Yonghan Ahn & Sungho Tae & Heungbae Gil & Mihwa Song & Sanghyo Lee, 2021. "Enhancement of Multi-Class Structural Defect Recognition Using Generative Adversarial Network," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-13, November.
    11. Mutu Tantrige Osada Vishvajith Peiris & Gileemalege Lalithri Navodya Dayarathne, 2023. "Application of Life Cycle Framework for Municipal Solid Waste Management: a Circular Economy Perspective from Developing Countries," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 899-918, June.
    12. Kirchherr, Julian & Piscicelli, Laura & Bour, Ruben & Kostense-Smit, Erica & Muller, Jennifer & Huibrechtse-Truijens, Anne & Hekkert, Marko, 2018. "Barriers to the Circular Economy: Evidence From the European Union (EU)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 264-272.
    13. Rachel Greer & Timo Wirth & Derk Loorbach, 2023. "The Circular Decision-Making Tree: an Operational Framework," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 693-718, June.
    14. Jeff Mangers & Meysam Minoufekr & Peter Plapper & Sri Kolla, 2021. "An Innovative Strategy Allowing a Holistic System Change towards Circular Economy within Supply-Chains," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-17, July.
    15. Magdalena Rusch & Josef‐Peter Schöggl & Rupert J. Baumgartner, 2023. "Application of digital technologies for sustainable product management in a circular economy: A review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(3), pages 1159-1174, March.
    16. repec:aud:audfin:v:20:y:2018:i:48:p:373 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Leslier Valenzuela-Fernández & Manuel Escobar-Farfán, 2022. "Zero-Waste Management and Sustainable Consumption: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Mapping Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-24, December.
    18. Claudia Marcela Betancourt Morales & Jhon Wilder Zartha Sossa, 2020. "Circular economy in Latin America: A systematic literature review," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(6), pages 2479-2497, September.
    19. Aurélien Bruel & Jakub Kronenberg & Nadège Troussier & Bertrand Guillaume, 2019. "Linking Industrial Ecology and Ecological Economics: A Theoretical and Empirical Foundation for the Circular Economy," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 23(1), pages 12-21, February.
    20. Bressanelli, Gianmarco & Visintin, Filippo & Saccani, Nicola, 2022. "Circular Economy and the evolution of industrial districts: a supply chain perspective," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 243(C).
    21. Ahmad, Farhan & Bask, Anu & Laari, Sini & Robinson, Craig V., 2023. "Business management perspectives on the circular economy: Present state and future directions," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:24:p:16632-:d:1295739. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.