AREMA sets records at 2008 conference

Top, AREMA President Larry Etherton, left, of NS and REMSA President Jon Reilly of Harsco Track Technologies announce the grand opening of the exhibit hall. Below, Union Pacific Foundation donated $50,000 to the AREMA Educational Foundation to endow a scholarship to be named for William Wimmer, center, soon to retire as UP vice president engineering.

The setting was gorgeous, the facilities excellent, the trade show superb, the papers informative and opportunities for networking abounded. It’s no wonder the AREMA 2008 Conference, held concurrently at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City with REMSA’s World Rail Expo 2008, drew 1,360 attendees, five percent higher than the previous record, which was set in 2007.

Among the top speakers were Cliff Eby, deputy administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, who addressed the opening general session September 21, and C. Wick Moorman IV, chairman, president and ceo of Norfolk Southern, who spoke at the annual chairmen’s luncheon on September 23.

AREMA Treasurer Michael Franke, chairman of AREMA’s Hay Award Committee, presented the 2008 William W. Hay Award for Engineering Excellence to Union Pacific for the Grant Tower Realignment Project completed in Salt Lake City in 2007. Named after long-time University of Illinois Professor of Railway Engineering William Hay, the award was presented September 22. The $60-million project, a public-private partnership with the city and Utah Transit Authority, smoothed the flow of trains through the city and eliminated a congested area of track downtown.

There were eight entries for the 2008 Hay Award competition, the most received in a single year.

In another story, the Union Pacific Foundation donated $50,000 to the AREMA Educational Foundation to establish a scholarship named for William Wimmer, who will be retiring soon as UP’s chief engineer.

Tuesday featured the traditional concurrent Functional Group sessions, including Communications and Signals, Engineering Services, Maintenance, Passenger and Transit, Structures and Track.

The C&S session included a panel discussion with top signal officers from five Class 1 railroads and Amtrak.

REMSA’s World Rail Expo 2008 featured 163 exhibitors in 150 booths occupying 42,600 square feet of space.

AREMA’s 2009 conference is scheduled to take place September 20-23 at the Chicago Hilton and Towers in downtown Chicago.