April Field Trip

Norfolk Southern hosted the RailTEC Systems Group on a tour of the newly expanded NS Moorman Hump Classification Yard in Bellevue, Ohio on April 24, 2018 as part of the joint meeting of AREMA Committees 14 and 16.

STEAM Summer Camp

Eleven grade school students spent the day with RailTEC faculty and students learning about railroad planning, construction and safety, as well as investigating the physics of rail transportation.

2018 Symposium

Over 150 attendees represented 11 countries and 26 states at the 2018 Int'l Crosstie & Fastening System Symposium. The symposium included technical presentations, research discussion topics and technical tours.

Spring Hay Seminar Speakers

RailTEC would like to thank our our seven William W. Hay Seminar speakers who visited during the spring 2018 semester. Between on campus attendees and online participants we reached over 700 people.

Congratulations Graduates!

Congratulations go out to our 2017-2018 RailTEC graduates. Best of luck in your future endeavors.

Welcome to RailTEC

Upcoming Events
RailTEC Short Course

6-10 August 2018
Urbana, IL

The Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC) in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is inviting you to attend the Railway Engineering Short Course. Learn more about the course and register here.

20th Railroad Environmental Conference

Please join us on October 23-24, 2018 for the 20th Railroad Environmental Conference. Stay tuned for more details on how we plan to celebrate this milestone.


In the News

Fourth RailTEC alum named "Rising Star"

July 2018: Dr. Xiang Liu, assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering program at Rutgers University and Director of the Rutgers Rail Program, was named by Progressive Railroading magazine as a recipient of their "Rising Stars" award. This award recognizes people under the age of 40 who are making a positive difference in the North American railroad industry. Liu is the fourth RailTEC alumni to receive this award since its inception six years ago. Other RailTEC winners were: Kevin Day (2014), Riley Edwards (2015) and Rapik Saat (2016). Liu was one of 20 individuals chosen out of more than 150 nominations. He received both an M.S. and Ph.D. in civil engineering with a focus on rail engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This year's honorees were chosen based on their contributions to the railroad industry, career achievements, demonstrated leadership, professional association activity or community involvement. All the recipients were honored on Sunday, 22 July 2018 in Chicago.

Railway Engineering Educators Symposium

July 2018: The Railway Engineering Educators Symposium (REES) marked its 10th anniversary last week with a conference on June 26 – 27, 2018 in Columbia, South Carolina. RailTEC Senior Research Engineer, Tyler Dick, was one of the presenters this year as well as at the original symposium on June 9 – 11, 2008 on the University of Illinois campus. REES provides faculty with materials, gives presentations, hosts discussions of the material, and organizes other activities intended to educate the attendees about rail transportation engineering.  This symposium was a direct result of the need for a new generation of capable, well-educated railway engineering professionals to plan, design, build, maintain, and operate the rail transportation system.  REES was so appreciated that in 2015 a Passenger Railway Engineering Education Symposium (p-REES) version was designed to encourage more transit content in existing engineering courses. P-REES and REES are offered in alternating years.



RailTEC Welcomes K-12 Students


June 2018: On Friday 15 June RailTEC faculty and students welcomed 11 students from the Summer STEAMcation camp by Next Generation School. This innovative summer program provides real-world experiences for students in grades 4-6 in the Champaign-Urbana area. Camp the week of June 11 was titled "Zoom Zoom Invent!" and focused on exploring the latest and greatest in transportation and the scientific investigations of transportation technology. On the day the students spent with RailTEC, they focused on railroad planning, construction and safety, as well as investigating the physics of rail transportation. Click here for more pictures.


Locomotive Testing Laboratory

Formally dedicated in 1913, this lab was one of three research facilities in the U.S. at the time.


Now being decommissioned, most recently the building housed an aeronautical lab complete with a wind tunnel.

June 2018: The old Locomotive Testing Laboratory on campus, originally built in 1912, is slated for demolition this summer due to structural concerns. This once state-of-the-art laboratory was previously a star attraction on campus. The building was recently featured in a News-Gazette column by journalist Tom Kacich. Click here to read the entire article. Current Illinois rail research is conducted at the 3,500 sq. ft. Research And Innovation Laboratory (RAIL) in the Harry Schnabel, Jr. building on the CERL campus, while the administrative offices are in Newmark Lab.


CRRC Visit

May 2018: Faculty and students from UIUC’s Chinese-American Railway Transportation Joint Research Center (CART-JRC) gathered at the Engineering Hall on May 18, 2018 to welcome a delegation from the CRRC Institute that was led by CRRC Vice President Mr. Bangcheng Sun, and engineers Mr. Yin Tian, Dr. Boge Wen, and Mr. Junen Yi. During the visit, the delegation from rolling stock manufacturer CRRC attended presentations on CRRC-funded railway research projects and toured several research laboratories. The delegation is pictured with UIUC Provost and Vice Chancellor Andreas Cangellaris along with faculty and students involved in research for CRRC. During the visit, RailTEC Executive Director Christopher Barkan presented an overview of RailTEC’s strong collaborations with the railway industry while Senior Research Engineer Tyler Dick presented updates on his two CRRC-funded railway research projects. More details on CART-JRC can be found at the center’s website.

Click here to read more news

About Us

  • Who we are:University Of Illinois Rail Transportation and Engineering Center

  • For over a century the University of Illinois has been a leader in railway engineering research and education. Beginning with Talbot's fundamental work on railroad track design, and Schmidt & Tuthill's work on train energy and power requirements, through Hay's textbook on railroad engineering, The U of I has a distinguished record of accomplishment and remains highly respected by today's railroad engineering community.

  • What we do:
    Education

    Inspire and sustain students and faculty interest in rail engineering and transport. Teach courses and offer a curriculum in rail engineering and transportation. Place Graduates in rewarding positions in rail engineering, transportation planning, and operations. Understand the critical educational issues in rail transportation, and develop practical, effective solutions.


    Research

    Understand the critical research issues in rail transportation, and develop practical, effective solutions. Conduct practical and theoretical research in critically important current topics in rail engineering and transportation. Communicate the results of this research to the rail transportation community.


    Service

    Provide knowledge and expertise to university, industry, government, and public on rail transportation and engineering topics.