It was another busy summer of of conferences for TRAIN faculty and students!
May Began with Prof. Dick travelling to Houghton, Michigan to meet with rail research collaborators at Michigan Technological University. It was great to finally visit the Michigan Tech campus in person after all these years of collaboration on numerous research projects!
From Houghton, Prof. Dick travelled to Duluth, MN to Chair the spring meeting of AREMA Committee 16 hosted at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum. The meeting was followed by a fantastic tour of the BNSF Allouez Taconite Transloading Facility in nearby Superior, WI.
From Minnesota, Prof. Dick travelled to Atlanta, GA to attend the 2025 INFORMS Freight Rail Planning & Operations Conference hosted at Norfolk Southern headquarters. TRAIN grad student Matthew Friar also attended the conference where Prof. Dick made a presentation entitled “Network Impacts of Yard and Line Operations”.
Returning to Austin, Prof. Dick then attended the Texas County Judges’ Planning & Design Forum held on the UT campus. This gathering discussed land development, planning and transportation issues of importance to various Texas County Judges who serve as the civic leader or “mayor” for the unincorporated parts of their respective counties. In response to the interest of Travis County Judge Andy Brown in expanding passenger rail in the Austin-San Antonio corridor, Prof. Dick made a presentation on “Passenger Trains of Freight Rail Corridors”.
Things picked up again in June when Prof. Dick travelled to Phoenix, AZ to chair two sessions at the ASCE International Conference on Transportation & Development. From Phoenix, Prof. Dick travelled to Kansas City to attend the WRI 2025 Heavy Haul Conference and make a presentation entitled “TEA Nexus of Train Control, Energy and Automation”.
Finally, In August, Prof. Dick travelled to South Bend, IN to attend the Midwest Rail Conference that also served as the annual meeting of the FRA-funded National University Rail Center of Excellence. At the conference, Prof. Dick moderated the opening plenary on “Hydrogen and Other Alternative Fuels for Railroads”.