The recent release of the National Transportation Safety Board’s (NTSB) annual Most Wanted list has once again shone a spotlight upon rail safety in the US.
The list, described as a ‘road map from lessons learned to lives saved’, has a major focus on technology and its role in improving safety. The top ten includes several rail specific requests, including a renewed push for the implementation of positive train control (PTC), an improvement of rail transit safety oversight, and changes to rail tank car management.
These are all key themes at the upcoming SafeRail (incorporating the 6th annual PTC World Congress) coming to Washington DC, US on March 22-23 2016. Christopher A. Hart, Chairman of the NTSB, is a lead speaker and will be discussing in further detail the key priorities for transit safety in the USA.
As the NTSB Most Wanted list has shown, safety on US railroads remains a key concern for all stakeholders. Increasingly, operators are looking for whole-system reliability but to achieve this key financial, strategic and technical challenges must be overcome.
While the extension of the PTC mandate gives operators breathing space on their deployment, it also offers more time to take advantage of rapidly evolving IT that provide the extra opportunities this makes available.
Responding to these changing market opportunities, and based on a five-year track record of hosting the world’s leading PTC World Congress, comes SafeRail, a two-day Congress taking place where the crucial transit safety decisions are made.
A unique blend of keynotes, masterclasses, roundtables and panel discussions, SafeRail is the must-attend event for all stakeholders involved in the safety and operational efficiency on the US Rail Network.
Attendees include a full range of experts involved in mandates and policy, compliance and regulation, project planning and delivery, signalling upgrades and operational performance. This includes CEOs, department chiefs, safety directors, signalling and communications experts and technology specialists.
SafeRail is completely free to attend for railroads, transit agencies and government, and will bring together over 40 high-level speakers and 100s of senior level attendees to discuss and discover how to exploit these opportunities and ensure safety, security and operational efficiency on your network.
Chairman Hart will be joined by Yves Desjardins-Siciliano (CEO, VIA Rail Canada), Mike Marino, Director / General Manager (Port Authority of NY & NJ (PATH)), Jeff Moller (AVP Safety, AAR), Keith Holt (deputy chief engineer communications and signals, Amtrak), Lisa McGowan, (general manager operations integration, CSX), and many more experts in rail safety and PTC from the government and business sectors.