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Chair’s Welcome Message

As the 2017 Joint Rail Conference chair, I welcome you to historic Philadelphia! We hope that
you enjoy your visit to the “City of Brotherly Love” and have an opportunity to explore many
of the national treasures which abound in this cosmopolitan city during your stay.

I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to our Organizing Committee, without whose
countless volunteer hours our extensive technical program would not have been possible.
ASME, the lead organization for this year’s conference, is pleased to partner with our
sponsoring organizations including APTA, AREMA, ASME, ASCE, IEEE, INFORMS, TRB, and
the National University Rail Center (NURail) to bring you an interesting line-up of over 100
technical papers and presentations covering all aspects of railroad engineering delivered by
our international participants.

With the help of our good friends at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
(SEPTA), we are pleased to offer you two technical tours as part of the conference. Visits to
the Fern Rock heavy maintenance facility or the recently-completed Crum Creek Viaduct will
add a touch of “real world” engineering as counterpoint to the many presentations offered
this week. I thank our SEPTA partners for their gracious hospitality in offering these tours.

Our invited speakers have been selected to complement the theme of the conference:
“Railway Engineering and Technology Solutions for Tomorrow’s Transportation Needs.”
Jeff Knueppel (General Manager, SEPTA), Andrew Wood (Executive Project Director, Amtrak’s
Tier III Trainset Project Management Office) and Devin Rouse (Staff Director, Passenger Rail
Division, Office of Safety, Federal Railroad Administration) will discuss emerging issues and
current programs to improve rail transportation efficiency, reliability and safety.

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I am pleased to welcome you, and hope that while
you are here you will have the opportunity to connect with colleagues and make new
acquaintances, and learn from our interesting speakers and presenting authors.

Enjoy the conference – as well as the pretzels and cheesesteaks!

Jeffrey Gordon Jeffrey Gordon
2 Chair

2017 JRC Organizing and Planning
Committee

Office of Research and Development

Federal Railroad Administration
Department of Transportation