Integrating renewable energy sources into railway systems presents a promising solution to mitigate rising CO2 emissions, growing energy demands, and environmental degradation. This paper reviews the potential of incorporating renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind, bioenergy, and kinetic energy recovery into railway infrastructure. By employing intelligent multi-agent systems to manage rail microgrids, the study demonstrates significant enhancements in energy efficiency, operational cost reduction, and system reliability. Strategic deployment of these energy solutions has shown a potential reduction in energy consumption by up to 30 %. This paper underscores the importance of advanced energy storage and management systems to address the variability of renewable sources, ensuring a stable and consistent energy supply. These findings highlight the critical role of smart grid technologies and AI-driven energy management in advancing the sustainability of railway operations and contributing to global sustainable development objectives.

Shelter planning following an earthquake is a critical component of disaster response and management, directly influencing the affected populations. Strategic shelter allocation must consider factors such as population density, infrastructure vulnerability, and accessibility to optimize emergency response efforts. This research introduces SELENA V7.0 (SEismic Loss EstimatioN using a logic tree Approach), an advanced open-source risk assessment tool designed to estimate potential physical damage and human losses from seismic events. Developed by NORSAR and the University of Alicante, this software has been used to enhance emergency planning through scenario-based risk analysis. The tool examines the anticipated seismic damage in the seven provinces of Nepal resulting from a probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA)-based design earthquake with a 475-year return period, reference to a 10% probability of exceedance in 50 years. Fragility models are integrated with Geographic Information System (GIS)-based spatial analysis to assess seismic risk across the provinces. The approach also supports identifying optimal shelter locations based on predicted infrastructure damage and accessibility constraints. The study outcomes are evaluated in terms of structural damage, economic losses varying from 0 to 1 billion Euros, number of homeless populations ranging from 2,330 to 57,463, and other relevant impact parameters as discussed in the results. The findings will equip policymakers and emergency planners to develop more effective shelter strategies, ultimately improving disaster resilience by providing critical evidence demonstrating how integrated technical and policy approaches can significantly enhance disaster resilience and emergency response effectiveness in seismic regions.