2025 Rail Planning Conference

Register Now!

INFORMS Freight Rail Planning & Operations Conference

The goal of the conference is to provide a forum for individuals in the area of the railway planning at a strategic, operational, and tactical level, as well as those designing and maintaining operations support systems, to share current practices, their views on best practices and their expectations for the future evolution of these practices and systems.  This is intended to be an approachable, “no equations” conference focused on managerial practices, and the outcomes and high-level methodologies of any technologies being applied.  We have already secured an exciting and informative line-up of speakers, with additional ones soon to be announced.

Schedule:

Sunday, May 18 

• Travel to conference
• Optional Sunday evening dinner/gathering (pay for separately)

Monday, May 19 

• Conference commences at 8 am (breakfast from 7 am), with main sessions concluding by 5:30 pm (breakfast, lunch and coffee breaks included in registration fee)
• Conference reception with food hosted by Norfolk Southern (included in registration fee)

Tuesday, May 20 

• Sessions commence at 8 am (breakfast from 7 am), wrapping up with lunch starting at 12:30 pm
• Networking “box” lunch (included in registration fee)

Who should attend:

Individuals interested in the areas of service design, capital planning (physical plant, rolling stock, labor), strategic planning, operational control functions and related technology support functions.  This includes planning, IT, operations research, and data analysis professionals within the rail industry, and the outside firms and universities that collaborate with these professionals.  This also extends to professionals that support the execution of the operating plan, such as individuals designing and supporting the blocking, train scheduling, trip planning, car movement, crew management, and locomotive management systems, as well as the individuals representing plan adherence and monitoring functions and activities such as unit train scheduling.

Logistics:

• Registration site is up! Click here to register (https://myaccount.informs.org/s/community-event?id=a1YVU000004mDf0).
• Meeting location: Norfolk Southern Headquarters, 650 West Peachtree Street, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia  30308
• Conference Hotel: Courtyard Atlanta Midtown; we have a secured a limited number of rooms at a rate of $189/night.  This rate expires on Friday, April 18, 2025 or when the available rooms become booked. To obtain this rate use “Mini Hotel Code: INF” and property code: “ATLYC”  either by calling Marriott central reservations at 1 (888) 236-2427 or by using the following link:
  •  https://www.marriott.com/event-reservations/reservation-link.mi?id=1737751593576&key=GRP&guestreslink2=true&app=resvlink

• Should the conference hotel be fully booked, there are many alternative hotels within walking distance of the NS headquarters.
• The conference site is adjacent to the MARTA North Avenue subway station, which is on the same line as serves the airport.
• Registration fee includes two breakfast, two lunches, coffee breaks, and Monday night reception (optional Sunday evening dinner to be paid for separately).
• Cancellation fees apply (see registration site for details).

Program:

Much of our speaker line-up is in place.  We are working to confirm some of the specific speakers for our panels.  An outline of the program is as follows:

• Keynote/welcome – Senior representative of Norfolk Southern
• Current Practices and Trends in Class I Railway Planning – panel talk by representative of each railroad (4 Class I speakers confirmed, 2 pending)
• Implications of Expanding Passenger Operations – speakers confirmed from Amtrak, Brightline, and two Class I railways
• Railroad reliability and the growth imperative – interaction between rail performance and growth of rail volumes from both a business and technical/operational perspective – theme to be set by Oliver Wyman, with additional speakers from Class I railroads
• The shipper perspective – view of railroad performance from the perspective of an intermodal and a carload shipper
• The shortline perspective – a look at the interaction between Class I railroads and shortlines, and how operational and other planning approaches impact the relationship
• Topical presentations – A variety of topical presentations on emerging technologies, and the application of technology to the planning and management perspective.  Speakers from organizations such as TTX, Rail Pulse, Class I railways, etc.

A more detailed schedule will be released in the near future!

Conference Sponsors:

A special thanks to our Railway Application and conference sponsors, who through their support have allowed us to keep registration fees low, and ensure broad-based participation.

2025 RAS Platinum Sponsors
2025 RAS Silver Sponsor
2025 Conference Gold Sponsor
2025 Conference Silver Sponsors

Stay tuned for further announcements for details on program. If you have questions, would like to participate as a speaker or panelist, or otherwise volunteer please contact one of the following members of the organizing committee: Carl Van Dyke (TransNetOpt, carl@cvdzone.com) or Stefano Rieppi (NS, Stefano.Rieppi@nscorp.com), or conference coordinator Trevor Daycock (NS, trevor.daycock@nscorp.com).

Organizing Committee:

Carl Van Dyke, TransNetOpt
Stefano Rieppi, Norfolk Southern