High-Speed Rail Conference Draws Experts

April 17, 2015

The US High Speed Rail Association (USHSR) announced the upcoming High Speed Rail Conference, which will take place April 21-23, at the Alion Conference Center in Washington, D.C. This three-day conference brings together some of the nation's top government officials and business leaders along with many of the world's leading experts to plan the roll out of high speed rail across America.

Hear from officials from the Obama Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, as well members of Congress, high speed rail experts, private rail operators, financial and investment professionals, engineers, construction leaders, real estate development professionals and national transportation advisors.  

Speakers include Sarah Feinberg, acting administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, Dan Richard, chair of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, and North Carolina Transportation Secretary Anthony Tata. Congress members include former chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee John Mica (FL), Donna Edwards (MD), Corrine Brown (FL), DC's Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Richard Neal (MA). Rail industry leaders will include Siemens' Armin Kick, Scott Sherin of Alstom, Yasutake Kojima of Japan's JR East, Jose Miguel Rubio Sanchez of Indra, Nuria Haltiwanger of ACS Infrastructure, Andreas Weisser of OHL Construction, Francisco Fernandez-LaFuente of Sener, and Parsons Brinckerhoff's David Carol and Karen Hedlund. Also hear from finance experts Jim Ziglar of Deloitte and Zach Effron of Goldman Sachs.

"As in previous conferences, this event will bring together an amazing line-up of top business leaders and government officials who are working to bring high speed rail to America" said Andy Kunz, USHSR president and CEO. "We are excited to have the opportunity to once again collaborate with the visionaries and leaders pushing for major improvements to the nation's transportation networks in bringing together this important event on high speed rail."

Conference highlights include A New Vision for Transportation in America, the opening session with leading advocates for high speed rail in America. Hear about the benefits, opportunities, and challenges of a major new infrastructure project for America. Also, the panel will discuss the status of the HSR program, and upcoming projects. Hear an exciting panel discussion with finance experts on how HSR will be funded in the Public Private Partnerships session. Real estate development around new HSR stations will be the focus of the Transit Oriented Development and Station Architecture session.

Also hear about plans for $20 billion investments in the Gateway projects in the New York-New Jersey area, the NEC Future Plan, and the Baltimore tunnel reconstruction in the Northeast Corridor & Gateway session. Hear about the momentum building in the Southeast for high speed rail from Washington DC to Richmond, Norfolk, Charlotte and Atlanta in the Southeast Corridor session. Finally, a proposed privately-funded high speed rail line from Minneapolis to Rochester/Mayo Clinic will be presented in Minnesota Private High Speed Rail. This Conference will be the 17th major event produced by the US High Speed Rail Association in the last 5 years.