Passenger & Freight Railroads Unite 2019
March 14 & 15 - Washington, DC
Please set aside the dates of March 14 and 15 to attend the first Passenger and Freight Railroads Unite Conference at the Westin Washington, D.C. City Center.
About the Meeting
Our business meeting is scheduled for a full day on March 14 and the morning on March 15. It will begin at 8:00 on March 14 with a networking breakfast and then lunch and will adjourn at 4:30 p.m. On March 15, the action begins at 8 with a networking breakfast and ends at noon.
The meeting is being organized by Dan Elliott who served as Chairman of the Surface Transportation Board from 2009 to 2017 and then went into private legal practice at Conner & Winters. Based on his experience at the Board, he came to believe that freight and passenger railroads need to talk more about how the national rail system should operate to be most efficient and effective.
The title of the meeting is Passenger and Freight Railroads Unite. This title expresses the theme of the meeting, that is to bring together freight and passenger railroads and other experts to look at the relationship between them to solve ongoing issues between these parties through informal discussions.
The goal is to bring everyone together to talk about the best way for the rail system to operate. In many circumstances, the freight railroads own and control the track that the passenger railroads operate on and in others, the passenger railroads have control. These shared track scenarios lead to disagreements about who should be able to go first when they both simultaneously need to run over the same route. It seems as if there is insufficient discussion in this town between the relevant parties. If these parties talked to each other directly rather than past each other through the press and trade shows, maybe we could fix some of the issues that have been fought over by these railroads.
As a result, we have invited leaders from Amtrak, the freight railroads, rail commuter services, and developers of new passenger and freight lines. A robust discussion about shared track and changing the network hopefully will lead to some solutions about how this fantastic system should operate.
Dress code is business casual. Networking tables will be available for distribution of your company’s information. We will have a networking breakfast, lunch, and reception on March 14 with our business meeting scheduled for a full day. We will also have a networking breakfast on March 15 with a plan to adjourn at noon.
All activities will be held at the Westin Washington, DC City Center. There will also be an all-day beverage station in the venue.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
We Appreciate Your Support!
GOLD SPONSOR:
Icomera believes in a better future powered by a Connected Journey – A revolution in transport powered by high-performance wireless Internet and a range of services that run seamlessly through this connectivity. As the world’s leading provider of open Internet connectivity and application platforms for passenger transport and public safety, Icomera’s award-winning products are deployed on rail, road and sea, serving millions of Wi-Fi users across the globe. www.icomera.com
SILVER SPONSOR:
BNSF is a critical link that connects consumers with the global marketplace. For more than 160 years, BNSF has played a vital role in building and sustaining this nation's economy. www.bnsf.com
SILVER SPONSOR:
R.L. Banks & Associates, Inc. (RLBA) embodies deep and diverse expertise in railroad economics, engineering and service planning. RLBA brings over 60 years of experience integrating these disciplines in a unique way across intercity passenger rail, commuter rail and freight rail projects in North America. www.rlbadc.com
LUNCH SPONSOR:
The X Train is an excursion passenger rail service between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. We expect service to begin in September 2019. LVXI plans to have its casino guests ride the exclusive train service and to manage the host activity of its guests throughout their stay in the resort/casino. We anticipate that, in addition to the service between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, future X Train runs will be added in the coming years. www.vegasxtrain.com
