A large contingent of faculty, staff, students and alumni represented RailTEC at Rail Research Week on 17-21 November 2025, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This event was a joint conference for the 13th International Heavy Haul Association Conference (IHHA 2025) as they teamed up with the 14th World Congress on Railway Research (WCRR 2025). This collaboration brought together leading minds in freight and passenger rail from around the world, tackling the pressing challenges facing the rail industry today and in the future.
The theme of the week was “Inspiring innovative and resilient railways.” RailTEC’s seven student presentations and five faculty/staff presentations were part of the 700 individual peer-reviewed sessions and papers at the joint conference. Over 35 presentations and session chairs mentioned in the program were associated with RailTEC. The next IHHA conference will be in 2027 in Australia and the next WCRR conference will be in 2028 in Poland.
Faculty, staff and student presentations were:
WCRR
In the Track Buckling conference track:
Effect of Fixed Structures: Analytical Modeling and a Pilot Field Study
Kamyar Kosarneshan
In the Derailment Risk, Mitigation & Detection conference track:
Statistical Modeling of Longer Train Derailment Rates
Xinhao Liu
In the Vehicle/Track Interaction Modelling & Testing conference track:
Dynamic Interaction Simulation Between Wheel and Turnout Frog Using Revenue Service Railroad Wheel Profiles
Jaeik Lee
In the Operational Safety conference track:
Use of LIDAR to Develop Comprehensive Detailed Information on the Physical and Geometric Characteristics of Level Crossings and Their Relationship to Incident Occurrence
Francesco Jacobini
IHHA
In the Track/Inspection conference track:
Field Experimentation Quantifying Rail Creep in a Steep-Grade Curve
Jose Gustavo Ramos
In the Rail Operations conference track:
Analysis of Distributed Power, Train Length, and Derailment Rate
Xinhao Liu
In the Heavy Haul Under Extreme Conditions conference track:
Impact of Sub-Freezing Conditions on Ballast Strength: A Laboratory Study
Coleman Froehlke
In the Track/Turnouts conference track:
Railroad Turnout Elasticity Optimization Using Revenue Service Wheel Profiles
Jaeik Lee
In the Track/Sleepers & Fasteners conference track:
Comparative Evaluation of Under Tie Pads on Railroad Track Maintenance
Arthur de Oliveira Lima
Arthur de Oliveira Lima
In the Track/CWR conference track:
Development of Method for Track Buckle Hotspot Identification Using Geometry and Laser Based Data
J. Riley Edwards
J. Riley Edwards
In the IHHA ePoster Session:
Effects of Fixed Structures: Analytical Modeling and a Pilot Field Study
Kamyar Kosarneshan
In the Vehicle Track Systems conference track:
Cross-Correlation Based Railway Change Detection: A Novel Approach
J. Riley Edwards
J. Riley Edwards
