RailTEC was honored to be the host institution for the inaugural INNOVARail 2026 conference, a new multidisciplinary conference dedicated to rail research, technology, and development. It was held 26-28 May at the iHotel and Conference Center on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. Over 200 attendees had the opportunity to hear 117 different topics presented on the conference theme “Translating Innovation into Practice”. Twelve of these presentations were by Illinois students. Keynote speakers included David Fink, FRA Administrator; Kari Gonzales, MxV Rail President and CEO; and Patrick Whitehead, CN Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer. Chris Barkan, Professor, George Krambles Director of RailTEC and Director of the National University Rail Center of Excellence (NURail CoE), was one of the organizers of the event. Click here to see the conference program.
Best Poster Awards were recognized from Wednesday night’s poster reception. The winners were:
1st: Samantha Garcia
2nd: Elian Cantu
3rd: Aluisio Fernando de Oliveira Filho
INNOVARail was introduced by IEEE Vehicular Technology Society (VTS) as a new conference in the VTS field of interest “Land Transportation” providing a platform for multidisciplinary discussions. Their mission statement for the conference is to enable technological advancements and transformation of the freight and passenger rail industry through a dynamic forum where the latest innovations in rail research and emerging technologies are translated into practice.
