Michigan Rail Conference 2015: Topics

3^rd Annual Michigan Rail Conference took place on August 19-20, 2015 at the Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids. The Conference broke earlier participant records with over 150 total registrations and 16 conference sponsors. The conference was co-organized by the Michigan Tech’s Rail Transportation Program (RTP), National University Rail Center (NURail) and Michigan Department of Transportation, under guidance from Conference Planning Committee (see list below).

The conference featured Mr. Joe Szabo (Executive Director of Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, and past Administrator for the Federal Railway Administration) as a keynote speaker and included more than thirty presenters from the rail industry and other stakeholder groups. The plenary sessions covered general transportation challenges and safety issues at grade crossings and afternoon breakout sessions ranged from rolling stock (passenger and freight) discussions to a rail shipper panel and sessions on passenger rail development.