Special Issue on Disaster Prevention and Mitigation in Resilient Railway Systems
Published 06 March, 2026
Railway systems are critical infrastructures that support economic growth and social connectivity. However, they face increasing threats from natural disasters, such as earthquakes, strong winds, landslides, and debris flows, as well as from climate change and extreme weather events. Hence, enhancing the disaster resilience of railways has become a global priority to ensure safety, maintain service continuity, and adapt to future challenges.
This Special Issue aims to gather high-quality research focused on disaster prevention, mitigation, and resilience evaluation across the entire lifecycle of railway systems. Contributions that address, but not limited to, the following topics are encouraged:
- AI-Driven Solutions: Applications of artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital twins, sensor data analytics, and smart monitoring in predicting, preventing, and responding to railway disasters.
- Lifecycle Stages: Planning and design, construction, operation, and maintenance of railway systems under disaster risks.
- Infrastructure Typologies: Risk and resilience assessment & enhancement strategies for subgrades, bridges, tunnels, stations, tracks, and other related railway structures.
- Hazard Scenarios: Performance evaluation, damage mechanisms, and mitigation measures under seismic, wind, geological, hydrological, and other natural or man-made hazards that impacting railway systems.
- Analytical and Technical Approaches: Innovative methods for vulnerability analysis, risk assessment, recovery modelling, and resilience quantification for railway systems.
We welcome original research articles and review papers that provide theoretical insights, practical applications, or forward-looking perspectives on making railway systems safer, more reliable, and more resilient. By sharing the latest advances, this Special Issue seeks to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and support the development of next-generation railway infrastructures capable of withstanding future disruptions.
Timeline:
Submission Deadline: 31 August, 2027
Acceptance Deadline: 31 December, 2027
Guest Editors:
1. Tony T.Y. Yang, Professor, The University of British Columbia, yang@civil.ubc.ca
2. Xiao Pan, Assistant Professor, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, cexiaopan@ust.hk
3. Atsushi Suzuki, Assistant Professor, Tohoku University, atsushi.suzuki@ubc.ca
4. Taoran Song, Associate Professor, Central South University, taoransongiren@csu.edu.cn
Guest Editors' brief introductions:
Dr. Tony T.Y. Yang
A fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at The University of British Columbia (UBC)
Dr. Yang is a preeminent leader in structural and earthquake engineering, acclaimed for his ground-breaking innovation in performance-based design, structural simulation and testing, robotic inspection and construction, and high performance, carbon-neutral and resilient infrastructure. He has been actively involved with the industry and code development nationally and internationally. He is one of the 19 voting members of the standing committee for earthquake design (SC-ED), which is responsible for writing the seismic design provision for the 2020 & 2025 National Building Code of Canada (NBCC). In addition, he has also been an active member of 14 other Technical Committees in Structural and Earthquake engineering including CSA-S16 (Canadian Steel Building Code) and Canadian Construction Material Centre (CCMC) – Structural Scheme Committee.
Dr. Yang has published over 250 technical papers, books, technical reports and patents. He has served the role of associate editor, regional editor, and editorial board member of multiple high-impact journals. This includes the editorial board member of the Computer-aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering Journal, a journal recognized to have high impact in interdisciplinary studies in civil engineering, and the Associate Editor for Smart Construction Journal, Resilient Cities and Structures.
Dr. Yang is also the Associate Editor for the Journal of Railway Science and Technology (JRST).
Dr. Xiao Pan
An Assistant Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST); An Adjunct Research Fellow at the HKUST Shenzhen-Hong Kong Collaborative Innovation Research Institute (Shenzhen) and HKUST Fok Ying Tung Research Institute (Guangzhou)
Dr. Pan's research is focused on structural damage detection and health monitoring, VLM-driven engineering drawing interpretation, modular and digital construction. As a PI and Co-I, he has led multiple national and international research funding projects in Hong Kong, mainland China and Canada, in collaboration with the China Earthquake Administration and multiple leading industrial partners. He has published more than 40 technical papers, including those in top-tier international journals such as CACAIE, ES, and AiC. He has won the Young Engineer Merit Award from International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE), Structural Excellence Award from Hong Kong Institution of Engineers (HKIE), Globalink Research Award from Mitacs Canada, Highly Cited Article Award from the EESD journal. He is an International Committee Member at the Smart Infrastructure and Construction Research Centre (SICRC), University of British Columbia (UBC), Canada. He has served as conference session chairs for multiple international conferences, and delivered more than 40 international presentations, including invited talks at the 16th International Workshop on Advanced Smart Materials and Smart Structures Technology (ANCRiSST) and the 3rd Symposium on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Civil Engineering.
Dr. Pan is also the Youth Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Railway Science and Technology.
Dr. Atsushi Suzuki
An Assistant Professor in the Department of Architecture and Building Sciences at Tohoku University, Japan
Since earning his Ph.D. in Structural Engineering in 2019, Dr. Suzuki has forged a distinguished career merging high-level industry consultancy with pioneering academic research. His professional trajectory—from serving as a construction consultant in Japan and a research engineer in Mongolia to becoming an academic leader—provides him with a rare, holistic perspective on structural resilience.
Currently managing over 20 high-impact projects, Dr. Suzuki's expertise addresses critical engineering challenges, ranging from the structural safety of steel systems to the decommissioning of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. His research is globally recognized for its innovative multiscale approach, bridging the gap between microscopic material behavior and macro-scale structural performance. By investigating material-level interactions within crystal phases, he has developed advanced simulations that precisely quantify structural vulnerability and seismic risk. This rigorous methodology has not only advanced theoretical knowledge but has also been formally adopted into the official guidelines of the Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ).
With a prolific record of over 100 publications, including 40 articles in top-tier journals and 30 international proceedings, Dr. Suzuki is a leading voice in the engineering community. His contributions have been honored with prestigious awards from the AIJ, the Japan Concrete Institute (JCI), and the Japan Society of Steel Construction (JSSC).
As a Guest Editor, Dr. Suzuki brings a standard of technical excellence and visionary leadership to this collection.
Dr. Taoran Song
An Associate Professor at the Central South University (CSU), and the Deputy Director of the Institute of Intelligent Construction and Maintenance for High-Speed Railways (National Engineering Research Center of High-speed Railway Construction Technology)
Dr. Song's research focuses on intelligent and disaster-mitigation alignment optimization design for land transportation infrastructures (railways, highways and pipelines). He has published 59 papers, including over 30 JCR-Q1 SCI papers. He holds 28 authorized invention patents and 8 software copyrights. He has co-authored one academic monograph, served as an associate editor for one textbook, and contributed to the compilation of one technical specification.
Dr. Song has received several important science and technology progress as well as teaching achievement awards from, e.g., the Hubei Provincial Government, the Hunan Provincial Government, the China Communications and Transportation Association, and the China Railway Society. He is the core researcher of the Digital Alignment Design Research Group at CSU that has developed the most comprehensive digital & intelligent alignment design software in China, which has been widely adopted by over 80% of Chinese railway survey and design institutes. He serves as a committee member of the Rail Transit Alignment Design Technology Committee at the World Transport Convention (WTC), and as a Youth Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Railway Science and Engineering (Chinese Edition), Urban Rail Transit, and Intelligent Transportation Infrastructure.
Dr. Song is also the Editorial Office's Deputy Director for the Journal of Railway Science and Technology (JRST).