RailTEC faculty, staff and students attended the Railway Interchange (RI) conference on September 22 – 25, 2019 in Minneapolis, MN. Between the faculty, student and alumni presentations at the event, RailTEC had representation in every AREMA session on Monday and Tuesday of the conference. Graduate student Tom Roadcap gave a presentation on “Field Experience and Academic Inquiry to Understand Broken Spike Failures in Railroad Fastening Systems” while research engineer Arthur Lima talked about “Fatigue Performance Characterization of Direct Fixation Systems Under Heavy Rail Transit Loading Conditions”. RailTEC students competed in the student quiz bowl where Illinois teams took two out of the top four spots. Students also attended the poster competition as well as networked with people and companies involved in the rail industry. RI is the largest railway exhibition and technical conference in North America and is attended by nearly 9,000 rail industry professionals from around the globe.
