01623361

Component

https://doi.org/10.3141/2608-11

Although freight traffic declined in 2016, North American railways have experienced a decades-long period of growth in freight ton-miles and in the number of commuter and intercity passenger rail trips. This growth, combined with the aging railway workforce, has triggered renewed demand for university graduates to enter railway careers. However, after decades of neglect, only a few North American academic programs are engaged in rail-related research and education. The railway academic community must be rebuilt to meet the industry workforce needs of the future. Since 2008, the Railway Engineering Education Symposium (REES) has been staged as a biannual collaboration between academia and industry to expose professors to railway engineering education topics. REES has prompted faculty at numerous universities to expand railway content in introductory transportation courses and to establish new courses on railway engineering topics. According to feedback from surveys of attendees, REES has evolved to support the growing railway academic community better. Expanding its original focus on new professors, REES now serves as a user conference for returning professors already engaged in railway education activities and is accompanied by online delivery of previous materials. This paper briefly reviews the decline of the relationship between railways and academia, then concentrates on the role of REES in its reemergence. Evidence of REES successes from participant surveys is documented, and challenges on the path forward are discussed.

01628040

17-06363

English

pp 96–104

2017

Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board

9780309442084

Digital/other

Figures (7) ; References (21) ; Tables (1)

Conferences; Education; Railroad engineering; Universities and colleges; Workforce

Administration and Management; Education and Training; Railroads

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 8 2016 12:35PM

• Bayesian Spatial Models of Crash Frequency at Highway–Railway Crossings
• Case Study of Benefit–Cost Analysis of an Intercity Passenger Rail Service
• Cluster-Based Approach to Analyzing Crash Injury Severity at Highway–Rail Grade Crossings
• Comprehensive Approach to Allocate Reliability and Cost in Passenger Rail System Design
• Current Issues in Highway–Rail Grade Crossing Hazard-Ranking and Project Development
• Economics and Planning of Short-Haul and Short-Line Railway Intermodal Service: Lessons from Previous and Current Operations
• Macrolevel Classification Yard Capacity Modeling
• Nested Sorting and Clustering for Visualization of Accidents in Highway–Rail Grade Crossings
• Railway Capacity Allocation Modeling Using a Genetic Algorithm
• Railway Human Factors and Operational Issues: What Can We Learn from Locomotive Voice and Video Recorders?
• Risk Comparison of Transporting Hazardous Materials in Unit Trains Versus Mixed Trains
• Survey of Future Railroad Operations and the Role of Automation
• Synthesis of North American High-Speed Passenger Rail Ridership Forecasting
• Train Data Collection and Arrival Time Prediction System for Highway–Rail Grade Crossings