WRI’s 30th Anniversary: Thirty Years of Wheel-Rail Engineering Analysis
Written by David C. Lester, Editor-in-Chief
Gordon Bashinsky, WRI Founder.
Courtesy of David Lester
ATLANTA - From Railway Track and Structures July 2025 issue, Editor-in-Chief David Lester writes about the 30th anniversary of the Wheel-Rail Interaction Conference in Kansas City.
From June 11-12, the Heavy Haul Wheel-Rail Interaction Conference was held in Kansas City, Mo. Railway Track and Structures was the presenting sponsor for the Heavy Haul portion on Wednesday and Thursday, while NURail Center of Excellence (see page 3, “Editor’s Notebook” in the March 2025 issue of RT&S) sponsored the Principles Course on Tuesday, June 10. The local host of the conference was CPKC, and on Monday, June 9, some attendees had the opportunity to visit CPKC’s state-of-the-art U.S. Operations Center at Knoche Yard in Kansas City, Mo.
Over the three days of seminars, there were eighteen formal sessions. In addition, the conference included what’s called an “Expo Zone” where vendors of rail maintenance products and services had booths where customers could learn about the latest innovations from each company. Also, the Heavy Haul seminar included several “Info Zones” where attendees could listen to presentations from several vendors in a small-group session presentation that included audience questions and discussion.
There were plenty of opportunities for networking at the conference during breakfast and lunch each day, along with the Grand Buffett Reception sponsored by Plasser American on Wednesday evening. The conference wound up with a prize raffle of high-quality gifts, and an “End of the Line” reception at the conference hotel.
The decision to become the presenting sponsor of the WRI Heavy Haul Conference was not made lightly. Since its inception, the mission of RT&S has been to educate and inform. Whether it’s the newest approach to resolving age-old issues to the introduction of technology and its impact that no one even dreamed about just 20 years ago, our magazine strives to report on cutting edge (perhaps bleeding edge) technologies and methods. We aim to have most of our topics enable railway maintenance teams to put new ideas into action immediately, while some of our articles discusses subjects that are promising but not quite ready for prime time. As the old saying goes, “something for everyone.”
Gordon Bachinsky, pictured above, founded WRI thirty years ago, and the 30th Anniversary meeting in Kansas City was special for many reasons. First and foremost, the breadth and depth of presentations were at their usual high level of quality. Honed over three decades, the mix of presentations also had “something for everyone.” Presenters from Plasser &Theurer, ENSCO, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, CPKC, MxV, and the International Heavy Haul Association, among others, provided some of the most valuable information you’ll find at any rail engineering conference. Most presentations were made in person, while a few were presented virtually. In addition, the conference was made available live online for those who could not make it to Kansas City.
One of the highlights of the conference was the presentation of the Worth Award to Michael Roney of Iron Mustache Consulting, who has had a long career with various organizations in railroad engineering. This award is named for Art Worth, who was Manager of Standards and retired as Senior Manager – Advanced Technology at Canadian National, and was known throughout the industry as a walking encyclopedia of railway engineering, standards, and practices. The Worth Award is given to someone who has worked in the industry for 25 years or more for a railroad, transit system, research institute/university, or as a consultant or supplier; published a book, number of articles or papers on railway or rail transit operations, maintenance, technology, and/or safety; been an active teacher, coach, and/or mentor; and made an impact on operations, practices, and/or safety in the industry.
The conference ended with founder Gordon Bachinsky reflecting on thirty years of Wheel-Rail Interaction conferences and thanking all the folks who have been with him for many, if not all, of the years to help him put on this conference annually. In 2025, for the first time, Wheel Rail Seminars will have a second event devoted to rail transit, instead of combining it with the Heavy Haul conference. The transit event will take place from August 26-28 in Seattle, Washington.
