The conference is now completed for this year. See the recap below for a rundown on what happened. Next year's conference will be in Marquette, MI, August 17-18. Click HERE to go to the 4th Annual Michigan Rail Conference site. You might also be interested in the 2nd Annual Rail Day and Railroad Night XI, click HERE for more information!
Joe Szabo, Executive Director of the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, our Keynote Speaker!
3rd Annual Michigan Rail Conference took place on August 19-20, 2015 at the Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids. The Conference broke earlier participant records with over 150 total registrations and 16 conference sponsors. The conference was co-organized by the Michigan Tech’s Rail Transportation Program (RTP), National University Rail Center (NURail) and Michigan Department of Transportation, under guidance from Conference Planning Committee (see list below).
The conference featured Mr. Joe Szabo (Executive Director of Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, and past Administrator for the Federal Railway Administration) as a keynote speaker and included more than thirty presenters from the rail industry and other stakeholder groups. The plenary sessions covered general transportation challenges and safety issues at grade crossings and afternoon breakout sessions ranged from rolling stock (passenger and freight) discussions to a rail shipper panel and sessions on passenger rail development.
Over 70 conference participants came to Grand Rapids early for field visits that included two grade crossing improvement projects, the SteelPro Grand Rapids Steel Distribution Center, the Grand Elk Railroad transload terminal and the Grand Rapids Amtrak station.
There are a few slides posted on this website, see the slide show below. The video of the conference, as well as a more extensive set of photos will be posted on line soon. Check back here for more details!
The organizers would like to thank all individuals/organizations and sponsoring agencies/companies involved in making the 3rd Annual Michigan Rail Conference a great success. In 2016, the conference will make its first appearance in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We’re hoping for yet another excellent conference in Marquette, August 17-18, 2016. Click HERE to go to the 4th Annual Michigan Rail Conference website!
If you have an idea about a topic you'd like to see included at the 2016 Michigan Rail Conference, or if you would like to present a topic yourself, visit the Michigan Rail Conference Topic Submission Form
Our conference was featured in the September Issue of ON TRACK: The E-Bulletin of the Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers!
Click Here to download the PDF
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