RailTEC Participation at 2026 TRB

RailTEC made a solid impact again this year at the 105th Annual Transportation Research Board (TRB) meeting in Washington, D.C. on 11-15 January 2026. In total there were over 43 separate references of RailTEC faculty, staff, students, and alumni in the rail sections. These references included 30 authors, 10 Committee Members, 2 session chairs, and 1 committee meeting chair. Click here for a guide to 2026 RailTEC contributions at TRB.

One highlight of the conference was the presentation of the 2025 Robert E. Skinner, Jr. Distinguished Transportation Research Management Award to Professor Christopher P.L. Barkan, George Krambles Director of RailTEC at the Chair’s Plenary Session on Wednesday. Dr. Barkan was recognized for his nearly four decades-long career advancing research, safety, and operational capacity in the nation’s rail transportation industry. He is the fourth winner of this notable award. Click here to read TRB’s announcement. The Skinner Award was established by the TRB Executive Committee to recognize outstanding lifetime achievement in management, administration, promotion, fostering, and implementation of transportation research.

(L-R) Ted Sussman, Samantha Chadwick, Libby Barkan, Chris Barkan, Riley Edwards, Arthur Lima

(L-R) Joel Jundt (Vice Chair-TRB Executive Committee), Tara Cavalline (Chair TRB-Technical Activities Council), Chris Barkan (UIUC RailTEC), Leslie Richards (Chair TRB-Executive Committee), Victoria Sheehan (TRB Executive Director)

TRB is the principal annual gathering of the North American transportation research community that typically attracts thousands of transportation professionals from around the world and the meeting program covers all transportation modes. There are hundreds of workshops, lectern sessions, committee sessions, and poster sessions addressing topics of interest to policy makers, administrators, practitioners, researchers, and representatives of government, industry, and academic institutions. Convened by TRB, the 2027 TRB Annual Meeting will be held January 10-14, 2027 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and Marriott Marquis in Washington, D.C.