The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) 2022 Annual Conference & Expo, was held 28-31 August at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Twenty-four RailTEC students and staff attended the conference. During the opening session, Illinois alumni John Cech, Vice President, Engineering at BNSF, was announced as the 2022 recipient of the Engineer of the Year Award by Railway Track & Structures (RT&S) Media. Each year RT&S awards one industry leader with their Engineer of the Year award. Click here to read the RT&S article.
In addition to attending technical presentations and sessions designed specifically for student participants, Illinois students created two teams of five to battle in the AREMA Committee 24 Collegiate Quiz Bowl Competition. Team 1, which consisted of Matt Parkes, Shashank Muddana, Dan Mueller, Thomas Stogin and Michael Copley, finished in second place after a breathtaking loss to Penn State Altoona in a sudden death match after being tied at the end of the last round. Team 2 consisted of Elie Roudiere, Teresa Talio, Wang Shi and David Wasilewski, and finished in fifth place. The student contest consisted of four rounds of ten questions related to railroad engineering, operations, history and trivia.
RailTEC presentations at AREMA this year were:
- Class I Demonstration of LRAIL 3D Laser Scanning and Change Detection Technology and Development of Track Component Heath Indices (TCHIs) – J. Riley Edwards, PE, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and John Laurent, P.Eng., M.Sc., Pavemetrics
- Case Study Comparison of Hazardous Material Unit and Manifest Trains Considering Mainline and Yard Risk – Di Kang, Rutgers University and Jiaxi Zhao, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Investigation into Longitudinal Track Resistance | A Critical Parameter for Track Loading and RNT Establishment – Marcus S. Dersch, PE, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Field Evaluation of Under Tie Pad Impact to Track Performance – Arthur de Oliveira Lima, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Erik K. Frohberg, BNSF Railway
