The goal is to support the development of crisis and risk engineering in the field of transportation of dangerous goods to ensure the sustainability of transportation in Ukraine for the integration of the country into the global transportation network. Method. Using systemic analysis, risk assessment techniques have been proposed that allow to strengthen safety measures during the transportation of dangerous loads. Thanks to mathematical modeling, the main factors, causes of risk (human factor, environmental factors, outdated material and technical equipment, production process, ergonomic factors, etc.) of the occurrence of an emergency situation during the transportation of dangerous goods by railway transport were formulated. A formalized approach to the presentation of the component systems "man-machine-environment" is considered, which allows to expand the possibilities of risk assessment and analysis of the influence of the human factor on the occurrence of an emergency situation based on mathematical modeling methods. Another formalized approach to coordination and interconnected work and responsibility in the "sender-carrier-receiver" system is considered. The results. 1) On the basis of the established and analyzed factors and causes of risks, recommendations have been developed to reduce the risks of an emergency situation and increase the safety of transportation. 2) Based on the analysis of two systems ("man-transport-environment" and "sender-carrier-recipient"), the concept of development of these two systems was presented in the context of increasing the interaction between the elements of the system of improving the safety of transportation. Scientific news. By the authors, when assessing the risks of an emergency, for the first time, all participants in the process of transportation of dangerous goods (man, machine, environment, sender, carrier and recipient in the context of two systems "man-machine-environment" and "sender-carrier-recipient". The practical significance. Developed recommendations for improving the safety of the transportation process, based on the analysis of the risk assessment of the occurrence of an emergency situation for two systems "man-machine-environment" and "sender-carrier-recipient", as well as the identification of possible causes and factors of the occurrence of emergency situations during transportation dangerous goods by rail transport.