Author: Amar Dhebar

August 2017: Two RailTEC faculty and four students are traveling to attend the 11th International Heavy Haul Association (IHHA) Conference in Cape Town South Africa on September 2 – 6, 2017. RailTEC has a total of 11 faculty and student papers and presentations at the conference. To see receive a copy of our IHHA conference booklet, send an email to RailTEC-Central@illinois.edu. The IHHA conference includes presentations of technical papers in research and development areas such as Rolling Stock and Railway Infrastructure and Operations, and aims to address recent the market downturn characterized by low commodity prices, low GDP growth rates, and slowdown in demand for freight bulk commodities such as coal and iron ore.

August 2017: Last week RailTEC’s Short Course focusing on Track Systems and Infrastructure Components; Locomotives, Rolling Stock and Mechanical Components; Rail Project Design and Construction was held on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s campus on August 7 – 11, 2017. There were 18 participants in the class. The students engaged in interactive lectures, relevant case studies and small group discussions to learn about the practical aspect and the science behind railway engineering and transportation concepts. All participants received Professional Development Hours (PDH) and a Certificate of Completion. If you missed the class this year, check back next year for our schedule.

Congratulations to the 3 RailTEC Ph.D. students who successfully defended their dissertations in a 3 month time period between May and July. Left to right: Alexander Lovett, Sam Chadwick and Mei-Cheng Shih.

July 2017: LaChaundra Graham, the NURail Center Grant Manager from the USDOT Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research & Technology, visit the Illinois campus on Tuesday, July 25, 2017 for a site visit. During the full day of meetings Ms. Graham listened to presentations on NURail’s research, technology transfer, and education and workforce development projects as well as toured the Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory and the Research and Innovation Laboratory (RAIL). Presentations were given by both Illinois students and researchers, as well as NURail partners from Michigan Technological University, the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Kentucky. By visiting the University Transportation Centers (UTC) such as NURail, the UTC program office staff can evaluate the current management of UTC’s as well as the UTC’s ability to meet its goals and to adhere to grant requirements.

July 2017: APTA hosted its second biennial Passenger Railway Engineering Education Symposium (p-REES), July 10-12, 2017, in Los Angeles, California at the Los Angeles Trade Technical College. P-REES’ goal is to encourage engineering faculty to add rail and engineering content to their current courses and curricula. RailTEC sent three faculty members to teach different modules at the symposium. Chris Barkan, Tyler Dick and Conrad Ruppert, Jr. provided practical hands-on engineering information and materials to the attendees.

June 2017: One hundred and nineteen attendees participated in the first Rail Infrastructure and Vehicle Inspection Technology (RIVIT) Conference held on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus on June 20 – 21, 2017. Twenty nine states, 7 countries and 29 rail companies were represented at the conference. The program is available here. Conference objectives include improving the effectiveness of existing technologies, development and implementation of new technologies, and presenting research on emerging technologies with the potential to be applied to rail transportation.

C. Tyler Dick, RailTEC Senior Research Engineer, (right) and Dr. Allan Zarembski, Research Professor and Director – Railroad Engineering and Safety Program, University of Delaware, (center) were part of the Leveraging Big Data for Maintenance-of-Way and Safety panel at the 2017 Rail Insights Conference at the Union League Club in Chicago on Wednesday 7 June 2017. The panel was hosted by Mischa Wanek-Libman, RT&S Editor and Railway Age Editor-Engineering, (left). Railway Age also live tweeted several key points and hot topics raised during their discussion.

UIUC cast prototype concrete crossties as a part of a Federal Transit Authority supported project. Researchers are developing more resilient, yet efficiently designed crossties for light, heavy, and commuter rail operations.