Analysing barriers of sustainable transportation systems in India using Grey-DEMATEL approach: A supply chain perspective

ABSTRACT

Sustainable transportation systems are the need for sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). This study presents a model to analyse the causal relationship and prioritisation of the barriers that exist within sustainable transportation systems in India. Appropriate barriers were identified based on the literature survey and as well as discussions with experts and decision-makers. The model addresses barriers to all major dimensions of sustainable transportation systems, namely economic, social-political, environmental, and technical. A total of 22 barriers were identified, and causal relationships among these barriers were envisioned by adopting the Grey-based decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) methodology. The Grey-based method can be used to handle uncertainty and ambiguity in decision-making. And, DEMATEL is adopted for identifying cause-effect relationships among several barriers to understand the problem properly. The application of the introduced model has been presented. The results reveal that the model effectively assesses and analyzes the barriers of sustainable transportation systems and has practical relevance.

KEYWORDS:

• Transport sustainability
• barrier analysis
• Sustainability
• Grey-DEMATEL
• decision-making

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sonu Rajak

Sonu Rajak is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Patna, India. He received his Ph.D. and M.Tech. Degree in Industrial Engineering from the National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli, India. He has received his Bachelor Degree in Production Engineering from the BIT Sindri, Vinoba Bhave University India. He has more than twelve years of experience in both the academic and industrial sectors. He has published 21 technical papers in peer-reviewed international journals and 14 articles presented in conferences at international levels. His research interests are in broad areas of Production and Industrial Engineering with a specific interest in Supply chain management, Optimisation, Sustainable manufacturing, MCDM techniques, and Metaheuristics.

P. Parthiban

P. Parthiban is an Associate Professor in the Department of Production Engineering, National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli-620015, India. He received his Ph.D. degree from JNT University, Hyderabad. He was recently awarded D.Litt. for his outstanding contribution in the field of Production Engineering. He holds a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from Madras University, Chennai, and Masters in Industrial Engineering from NIT Tiruchirappalli. He has done extensive research in the areas of Supply Chain Management, Multivariate Analysis, and Multi-Criteria Decision Making Techniques. He has more than 120 technical papers presented and published in conferences and journals at international and national levels. His research interests include Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Lean Manufacturing, and Artificial Intelligence.

R. Dhanalakshmi

R. Dhanalakshmi, Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Information Technology Tiruchirappalli, India. She has obtained two Ph.D. degrees, one from JNT University, Hyderabad, India, and the other from Mother Teresa Women's University Kodaikanal, India. She was conferred upon D.Litt. for excellent work in the domain of Computer Science and Engineering. She holds a Bachelor in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Madras University and Masters in Computer Science and Engineering from Madurai Kamaraj University, India. She has more than 70 technical papers presented and published in conferences and journals at international and national levels. Her research interests include Computer Networks, Artificial Intelligence, and Combinatorial Optimization.