Comprehensive Sustainable Assessment and Prioritization of Different Railway Projects Based on a Hybrid MCDM Model

Ziquan Liu and Yanchun Zhang ()
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Ziquan Liu: School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410018, China
Yanchun Zhang: School of Civil Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410018, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-24

Abstract: Railways play an essential role in China’s development, driving economic and social progress while negatively impacting the environment. Assessing different railway projects’ sustainability can maximize the positive effects and minimize the side effects. This article aims to propose a methodological framework containing a series of indicators to evaluate the sustainability of four railway projects in China. A hybrid MCDM (multi-criteria decision-making) method was adopted to analyze the interrelationships among the dimensions and indicators and then present the projects’ differences. The weights of each indicator in the research were studied according to experts’ advice, and the same indicators were of different importance when placed in different research environments, such as developing and developed countries. This helps to establish a developing-country-centered evaluation indicator system. After comparison, it can be seen that Railway A is the best in terms of sustainability, mainly because it is in an economically developed region of China that is rich in construction resources, and is less constrained by natural conditions than other projects. The results show that although environmental sustainability has been improved over the past few years, its low level of influence still urges people to invest more attention and take more actions with significant effects in this respect. Furthermore, railways show significant differences in economic sustainability, while the differences in social sustainability have reduced considerably. This study provides further insight into the investigated measures and proposes recommendations for improving railway transport in China.

Keywords: sustainable transport; DANP; VIKOR; sustainability indicators; multi-criteria decision analysis; railway performance assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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