In May, TRAIN students and faculty travelled north to Hurst, Texas in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex to attend the annual Southwestern Rail Conference. The conference included an update from Union Pacific on their planned merger with Norfolk Southern, as well as presentations from the FRA, TxDOT, DART and various other rail operators, DOTs and local planning agencies on freight and passenger rail development in Texas and surrounding states. Many lessons were learned regarding the tremendous amount of coordination and levels of public and political support required to advance long-term rail development projects.
During the conference, TRAIN PhD student Heyang Zhang also showed off his expert train operating skills on the locomotive simulator!
And no road trip between Austin and Dallas would be complete without making a certain stop…
