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Advances in Land, Rail and Maritime Transport and in City Logistics

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Transportation and Future Mobility".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2026 | Viewed by 841

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy
Interests: innovative transport systems; city logistics; freight transport by rail and by sea; passenger transport; acoustic capacity of roads; port telematization; transport systems simulation; optimization algorithms
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Global trade and urbanization are continuously growing; as a result, there is an increasing demand for efficient transport systems and digitalization. On the other hand, the carbon footprint of freight and passenger mobility still poses a challenge; therefore, currently, there is an increasing need for innovative and green transport systems. This Special Issue focuses on recent advances and innovative approaches in land, rail, and maritime transport systems, as well as the evolving field of city logistics. This issue aims to highlight interdisciplinary research and practical case studies that address the challenges and opportunities across different transport modes and urban freight distribution. We welcome original research and review articles that contribute to improving operational performance, reducing environmental impact, and enhancing the resilience of transport and logistics networks.

Dr. Alessandro Farina
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • land transport of freight and passengers
  • rail transport of freight and passengers
  • maritime transport of freight and passengers
  • intermodality and combined transport
  • city logistics digitalization in freight transport and logistics
  • intelligent transportation systems
  • simulation and optimization algorithms of transport systems

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 1082 KB  
Article
A Hybrid Approach to Investigating Factors Associated with Crash Injury Severity: Integrating Interpretable Machine Learning with Logit Model
by Chenxi Wang and Thierry Serre
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(19), 10417; https://doi.org/10.3390/app151910417 - 25 Sep 2025
Abstract
Understanding the determinants of crash injury severity is essential for developing effective safety strategies and reducing traffic-related losses. This study proposes a hybrid analytical framework that integrates interpretable machine learning with statistical modeling to address the limitations of existing approaches. A Random Forest [...] Read more.
Understanding the determinants of crash injury severity is essential for developing effective safety strategies and reducing traffic-related losses. This study proposes a hybrid analytical framework that integrates interpretable machine learning with statistical modeling to address the limitations of existing approaches. A Random Forest (RF) classifier, combined with Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP), was first employed to capture nonlinear relationships and identify key predictors of injury outcomes, including safety equipment, age, gender, and the presence of fixed obstacles. Random Forest was chosen for its strong predictive performance in capturing nonlinear relationships, while SHAP provides transparent explanations of model predictions. To ensure statistical rigor and quantify associations, a Partial Proportional Odds (PPO) model was subsequently applied, allowing for the relaxation of the proportional odds assumption (POA) and enabling the estimation of marginal effects. The results consistently highlight the protective role of safety equipment and the increased risks associated with fixed obstacles, adverse weather, and nighttime conditions. For instance, seatbelt use is associated with a 29.61% higher probability of no injury, whereas fixed obstacles are associated with a 29.36% lower probability and a higher risk of severe injury. These findings support safety campaigns that encourage protective equipment use and infrastructure policies aimed at reducing roadside obstacles and improving nighttime visibility. Future research will focus on accounting unobserved heterogeneity and validating the framework across multi-regional datasets to improve its generalizability and policy relevance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Land, Rail and Maritime Transport and in City Logistics)
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16 pages, 1506 KB  
Article
Theoretical Framework (Module) for Short-Sea Shipping System Evaluation
by Vytautas Paulauskas, Birutė Plačienė, Donatas Paulauskas, Rafał Koba, Patryk Lipka, Krzysztof Czaplewski, Adam Weintrit and Andrzej Chybicki
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(14), 8058; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15148058 - 20 Jul 2025
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Abstract
Short-sea shipping, abbreviated SSS, is the transportation of goods by sea over relatively short distances, in contrast to intercontinental ocean and deep-sea shipping. Short-sea shipping (SSS) is important for cargo transportation in some regions of the world with many ports and well-developed liner [...] Read more.
Short-sea shipping, abbreviated SSS, is the transportation of goods by sea over relatively short distances, in contrast to intercontinental ocean and deep-sea shipping. Short-sea shipping (SSS) is important for cargo transportation in some regions of the world with many ports and well-developed liner shipping. The development and improvement of SSS systems is an important scientific and practical task. This article presents theoretical and experimental results of the development and optimization of SSS. A methodology for connecting and evaluating SSS and other transport chains was developed and tested by experimental studies, with the help of which it is possible to assess the efficiency of SSS and other transport chains, e.g., in terms of economy, freight transportation time, and environmental impact. The developed SSS methodology includes sea and land transport corridors, their assessment, and possible ways of optimizing transport chains using a comparative method and can be applied to various transport and logistics chains. The basis for the development and verification of the SSS methodology was the theoretical and experimental results of real short-sea shipping operations. The use of a comparative method based on which transport and logistics chains are assessed allows one to search for the most optimal SSS routes and possible factors that allow optimizing transportation costs and reducing transportation time and environmental impact. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances in Land, Rail and Maritime Transport and in City Logistics)
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