Systems Approach to the Safety Aspects of Sustainable Transport Systems

Dear Colleagues,

The European Union aims to reduce carbon emissions to slow down climate change. One of the main areas of carbon emission reduction lies in the mobility domain: road, rail, marine, and air transport. Reductions can be achieved by replacing fossil fuels for zero-emission fuels. This requires all kinds of new technologies to produce, store, and transport zero-emission fuels, and new technological developments bring “new” safety risks.

Sustainability/energy transition

In this Special Issue, we aim to publish the latest scientific insights and applications that elaborate on the safety aspects of sustainability (energy transition) in transport systems. We consider this elaboration to take an integrated approach. As such, we imply that sustainability developments in transport systems are to be considered from various perspectives. This includes (simultaneous) approaches from the technical, organizational, behavioral, and legal domains.

Integral and systems-based approaches

Applying integral and systems-based approaches to the safety of sustainable innovations in transportation requires a holistic analysis and proactive management of the complex interactions among technologies, infrastructure, human factors, and diverse stakeholders across the transport ecosystem.

Sustainability topics

• Large-volume (gas/liquid) hydrogen transport: road, rail, pipeline, inland navigation.
• Battery energy storage systems and charge infrastructure.
• Ammonia production, storage, and transport: road, rail, pipeline, inland navigation.
• Energy production and transport: wind, solar, electrolysers.
• Carbon capture storage and usage.

Integral and systems-based approaches

• System safety design and engineering (e.g., vehicle safety design, infrastructure safety, cybersecurity).
• System integration and interaction (e.g., interaction among vehicle, interoperation, infrastructure, stakeholders, human factors, and regulatory frameworks).
• Risk assessment and management (e.g., safety managements systems or methods and techniques for faults, failures, crisis, or vulnerabilities).
• Human factors and ergonomics (e.g., user-centered design, training, simulation).
• Data integration and analysis (e.g., analyzing datasets or (real-time) data from sources such as sensors, cameras, GPSs).
• Collaboration and coordination (e.g., stakeholder engagement and interorganizational collaboration in the transport ecosystem).
• Adaptive and resilient systems (e.g., flexible protocols for adaptation to unexpected event or changing condition).
• Continuous improvement (e.g., feedback mechanisms and safety culture).
• Emerging technologies (e.g., autonomous operation and high-speed transportation).

Dr. Mohammad Rajabalinejad
Prof. Dr. Nils Rosmuller
Guest Editors

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.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Systems is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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.

• sustainable mobility and energy transition
• zero-emission transport
• sustainable and smart transportation systems
• hydrogen-powered vehicles and infrastructure
• electric mobility and charging infrastructure
• liquefied natural gas (LNG), compressed natural gas (CNG), and CO₂ transportation
• renewable energy integration in transport
• safety, risk and resilience
• risk analysis and risk assessment methods
• integral safety analysis for transport systems
• resilient infrastructure and system design
• incident prevention, response, and crisis management
• third-party safety and external risk exposure
• occupational safety and workforce protection
• transport infrastructure and logistics
• transport infrastructure safety and reliability
• road, rail, inland waterways, and public transport systems
• transport chain optimization and sustainable logistics
• multimodal transport systems and interconnectivity
• data-driven transport monitoring and decision support