High-speed railway and safety: Insights from a bibliometric approach

High-Speed Rail (HSR) systems represent a significant advancement in modern transportation. They offer rapid, efficient, and environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional rail, air travel and road transportation. Even if high-speed trains appeared approximately in the middle of the previous century, several aspects concerning safety remain. This study aims to comprehensively review the scientific literature related to the safety issues of high-speed railways. A bibliometric analysis was carried out utilizing 2358 publications from the last two decades (2004–2023) to understand better the existing research on HSR and safety. Future trends and thematic areas of research are identified and analyzed. Chinese researchers and universities have led the total number of current publications related to the context of HSR safety. While most of the publications come from Chinese institutions, a significant international collaboration can be identified. The main areas of research on HSR and safety can be classified into four main clusters based on the keywords co-occurrence analysis and are related to risk management, structural dynamics and resilience in railway systems, geotechnical engineering and tunnelling and maintenance technologies. Researchers and policymakers can use the results of this study to better understand the dynamics of scientific research in the field of high-speed railways and safety and make decisions about future directions and funding priorities.