Transportation Research in India: Practices and Future Directions

This co-edited book focuses on the state-of-the-art research in transportation in India. Exploring the need for a sustainable transport paradigm in India, this timely book offers solution concepts for mobility and infrastructure challenges faced by local, state, and national transport authorities. The contents provide a holistic understanding of the paradigm, considering several case-studies and study findings from the leading transportation researchers in India. At the same time, it also addresses the pressing transportation related challenges such as road user safety, traffic operation efficiency, economic and social development, non-motorized transport planning, environmental impact mitigation, energy consumption reduction, land-use, equity, freight transport planning, multimodal coordination, access for the diverse range of travellers’ needs, sustainable pavement construction, and emerging vehicle technologies. The existing practices and policies in all the sectors and levels of transport are highlighted in this book with an emphasis on a broader vision for achieving sustainable and inclusive development. The information and data-driven inferences compiled in the book will be useful for practitioners, policymakers, educators, researchers, students, and individual learners. 

Prof. ​Akhilesh Kumar Maurya is currently Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, India. He received his Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur and M.Tech. degree in Computer Aided Design from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee. He is active academically and professionally in the area of traffic flow modeling, driver behavior, road safety audit and accident analysis, traffic data collection and analysis studies since over a decade. He has published more than 100 technical papers in international journals and conferences. He has received the DAAD fellowship at Technische Universität Darmstadt. He is currently President of “Transportation Research Group (TRG)” of India, member of World Conference on Transport Research Society (WCTRS) and the life member of Indian Roads Congress. He is also certified Road safety Auditor by International Road Federation(India) and Australian Road Research Board. Apart from several Indian institutions, he has also delivered invited lectures at various international institutes like Technische Universität Berlin, Technische Universität Darmstadt, University Duisburg-Essen and National University of Singapore.

Dr. Lelitha Devi Vanajakshi is a Professor in the Transportation Division of the Department of Civil Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. She holds a Ph.D. in the area of Transportation Engineering from Texas A&M University, USA. Her teaching and research interests are in the area of transportation systems with an emphasis on traffic flow modelling, traffic operations, and intelligent transportation systems.  

Dr. Shriniwas S. Arkatkar is currently serving as an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at SVNIT Surat, India. Recently, he is appointed as ‘Adjunct Professor’ at the Departmentof Civil Engineering, Ryerson University, Ontario, Canada. Prior to this, he worked in the Department of Civil Engineering at Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani, India. He has over 10 years of experience in teaching, research, and consultancy in the field of traffic and transportation engineering. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. He completed his bachelors in Civil Engineering in 1999 and masters in the area of Urban Planning in 2001, from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur, India. Dr. Arkatkar has published more than 120 research papers in journals and conference proceedings. He has experience in diverse fields of transportation such as traffic flow modelling, traffic safety, intelligent transportation systems (ITS), transportation planning, traffic operations, and traffic simulation applications. He is actively involved as Executive Secretary, Transportation Research Group of India (TRG) and as member of SIGs of WCTRS, Indian Roads Congress (IRC), Governing Council member in the Institute of Urban Transport (IUT), Ministry of Housing & urban Affairs (MoHUA). 

Dr. Prasanta Sahu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS) Pilani at Hyderabad, India. He holds a Ph.D. in Transportation Systems Engineering (TSE) from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and Master’s in TSE from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur. Dr. Sahu is an Adjunct Professor in Price Faculty of Engineering at University of Manitoba, Canada. Dr. Sahu serves as a Handling Editor of Transportation Research Record – The flagship journal of Transportation Research Board, USA. Also, he serves as Guest Editor to Research in Transportation Economics. Dr. Sahu is the Standing Committee Member of AT015-Freight Transportation Planningand Logistics, Transportation Research Board, USA. He has been a pioneering contributor to freight transportation planning and policy in India with numerous high-quality publications aiming to improve the logistic efficiency of goods movement. Dr. Sahu is currently leading an associate research center (ARC) of Center of Excellence on Sustainable Urban Freight Systems (CoE-SUFS) at BITS Pilani. He also focuses on green mobility planning, quality of life, demand management schemes such as congestion pricing and transport emissions. Multiple projects led by Dr. Sahu in these research areas are currently ongoing under the sponsorship of funding schemes such as Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), Government of the United Kingdom and Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC), MHRD, Asian Smart Cities Research Innovation Network – La Trobe University Australia, UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI), Government of India, Public Works Department, Government of Telangana. Dr. Sahu is a life member of Institute of Urban Transport (IUT) India and Transportation Research Group (TRG) India and Indian Road Congress (IRC). Additionally, he is a visiting faculty to University of Regina, Regina, Canada and Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, UK.