Steve Donald has joined Stantec as railway operations planning and modeling lead.
Based in the company's Barrie, On., office, Donald will lead Stantec's Railway Operations Planning and Modeling group specializing in transit and rail capacity studies, operations planning, scheduling, and simulation. With a proven background in helping the rail community address infrastructure issues, he will focus on growing these services as a core business line within Stantec’s Transit/Rail Sector, both domestically and internationally.
Donald’s railway career spans 30 years and multiple aspects of the railway industry. He specializes in capacity analyses using Berkeley Simulation's RTC modeling platform. He has also has routinely performed DC Load Flow Analyses to aid in the design of DC Traction Power systems. He's also experienced using in-train forces modeling to aid in track alignment, train configuration, and operations optimization. He has provided modeling expertise on projects for clients such as Toronto Transit Commission, Canadian Pacific Railway, GO Transit, Houston Metro, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Donald has been exposed to both the maintenance and operations aspects of the railway, providing him with a unique perspective of the interactions between design, maintenance, and operational issues and their competing priorities.
Donald is currently conducting a capacity analysis on the Florida East Coast Railway and the SFRC to determine the impacts of a new commuter service on the existing rail network. This model integrates FEC and CSX freight, Tri-Rail, Amtrak, All Aboard Florida, and two additional commuter routes over a 500-mile rail network with more than 200 proposed trains daily.
Donald joins Stantec’s growing Transit/Rail sector team, which provides a complete service package addressing bridges, track, signal and communication, stations and terminals for passenger and heavy rail clients across North America and internationally.
