Railway Age Next-Gen Rail Systems 2025 – formerly Next-Gen Train Control (NGTC)

Agenda is subject to change.

Wednesday, October 29

1:15 PM
Gather for PATH Technology Tour in Hotel Lobby
Space is limited. Participants will be confirmed via email. 

1:30 PM
Depart for Tour
Confirmed participants only.

NOTE: This tour includes a visit to an active train yard. All participants will be required to show government ID before entering. Wear closed-toe, hard-soled, flat shoes (steel toe not required).

Participants will depart from the Hyatt Regency lobby at 1:30 PM and walk (2min) to the nearby Exchange Place PATH station. There they will take a train to PATH’s Journal Square headquarters, where attendees will be introduced to key PATH staff, receive a history of the agency’s CBTC program and hear an overview of PATH’s modernization program.

At approximately 3:00 PM, participants will travel via shuttle bus to PATH’s C-Yard.

At C-Yard, attendees will visit two separate areas:
⋅    The Control Center, where subject matter experts will be on hand to discuss PATH’s CBTC system.
⋅    The train yard, where one of PATH’s top innovators will talk about their modernized train cars, including digital and communications upgrades that have enhanced safety and reliability.

Attendees will return to the Hyatt Regency Jersey City via shuttle bus.

4:45 PM
Tour Participants Arrive Back at the Hyatt Regency

All conference sessions and social functions take place in the 9th floor Manhattan Ballroom Area.

Thursday, October 30

7:00 AM
Registration & Badge Pickup
Continental Breakfast sponsored by Siemens

8:00 AM
Keynote Address
Modernizing Public Transport
Kris Kolluri, President & CEO, New Jersey Transit

8:30 AM
Systems Integration & Engineering, Part 1
Moderated by Mike Palmer, Senior Program Manager, Parsons

Common Mistakes Made by Agencies in Systems Engineering and How/Why Lessons Learned Should Be Applied
Wilson Milian, President & CEO, Milian Consultants LLC

Systems Lifecycle Engineering: A Practical Approach to Transit Project Delivery
Michael Godfrey, Chief Technology Officer, WGD Consulting, Inc.

Procurement Lessons for Rail Systems
Catherine Campbell-Wilson, Principal, StrategyFive

9:30 AM
Coffee Break, Sponsored by Milian Consultants LLC

10:00 AM
Systems Integration & Engineering, Part 2
Moderated by Yousef Kimiagar, Vice President, IRSE

PTC: Consider the End User
Jonathan Kirby, Senior Director, NJT PTC, New Jersey Transit

How TOPS (Total Operations Processing System) Has Supported Network Rail and its Predecessors
Andrew Mitchem, Associate Vice President – New York, New Jersey & National Clients, Network Rail Consulting

Visualization Systems for Enhanced Rail Operations
Robert Hanczor, Founder & CEO, Piper Networks

11:00 AM
CBTC Project Developments
Moderated by Mike Palmer, Senior Project Manager, Parsons

SFMTA Train Control Upgrade Project (TCUP)
Siv Bhamra, Project Manager,  WSP USA
Dan Howard, Project Director, SFMTA

Sound Transit CBTC
Manan Garg, Executive Director, Capital Delivery Department, Sound Transit 

MTA NYCT CBTC Rollout
Gregoire Sulmont, Senior Vice President Signals & Train Control, NYC MTA Construction & Development

TTC CBTC and Expansion Projects Update
Yan He, Chief Project Manager, Expansion and ATC, Engineering, Construction & Expansion, Toronto Transit Commission

12:15 PM
Networking Luncheon
Topic: Food for Thought
Adam Giambrone, Transportation Operations and Infrastructure Management, SYSTRA Arabia

1:30 PM
PATH CBTC Brownfield Implementation: Lessons Learned
Clarelle DeGraffe, General Manager, PATH

2:00 PM
Innovation Spotlight
Druid 5G Core Solutions for CBTC
Fergal Concannon, Rail Network Architect, Druid Software

2:10 PM
Freight Rail Advanced & Emerging Technologies, Part 1
Moderator: William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief, Railway Age

Locomotive-Based Digital Track Inspection
Dustin K. Lange, P.E., Senior Director of Engineering, Norfolk Southern

CLEAR Border Security Tool
Matthew Kim, Assistant Vice President Enterprise Strategy, Canadian Pacific Kansas City

Remote Controlled Movable Bridges
Steven Vant, Chief Signal Engineer, Conrail (Representing IRSE-NAS) 

3:10 PM
Afternoon Energy Break, Sponsored by Critical Systems Analysis

3:45 PM
Freight Rail Advanced & Emerging Technologies, Part 2
Moderator: William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief, Railway Age

Digital Train Inspection Portals
Brian Yeager, Director Advanced Technology & Train Reliability, Norfolk Southern

Using AI and Interoperability Techniques for Advanced Driver Advisory and Train Protection
Derel Wust, Founder, 4Tel & 4AI Systems

Empowering Rail Professionals with AI-enabled Tools and Applications to Improve PM/CM and O&M Outcomes
Sridevi Lakshminarayanan, CSEP, Engineering Manager, Parsons Corporation

4:45 PM
Innovation Spotlight
Modernizing the Conventional:  An Agency’s Path to Next Gen Signaling
Casey Haddock, Business Development Director, KB Signaling

4:55 PM
Penn Station New York Megaproject
Andy Byford, Special Advisor to the Amtrak Board, Penn Station Transformation Project

5:30 PM
Networking Reception

6:30 PM
Conference Day Ends

Friday, October 31

7:00 AM
Continental Breakfast

8:00 AM
Opening Address
On Track to Tomorrow: VIA Rail’s Vision for a Safe, Modern, and Sustainable Passenger Rail Service
Mario Péloquin, President & CEO, VIA Rail Canada

8:30 AM
Successful Transit Agency / Government Procurement Partnerships
Brad Cummings, Senior Vice President Procurement & Contract Management, Austin Transit Partnership

9:00 AM
Supplier CBTC Updates
Q&A Leader: William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief, Railway Age

Brownfield CBTC Deployment, Alstom’s Lessons Learned
Nabeel Shehzad, Director of Urbalis Solution & Integration, Alstom

9:20 AM
Light Rail
Q&A Leader: Mike Palmer, Senior Project Manager, Parsons

CBTC for Light Rail
Angelo Campisi, Senior Director, Product Portfolio, Hitachi Rail

9:40 AM
Gateway Program Construction Progress
Stephen Sigmund, Chief of Public Affairs, Gateway Development Commission

10:00 AM
Coffee Break

10:15 AM
Agency Roundtable
Moderated by Mike Palmer, Senior Project Manager, Parsons
Brad Cummings, Austin Transit Partnership
Manan Garg, Sound Transit
Yan He, Toronto Transit Commission
Dan Howard, Project Director, SFMTA
Gregoire Sulmont, NYC MTA Construction & Development

11:00 AM
AI, Data Technologies and Cybersecurity
Moderated by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor, Railway Age

Practical Transit Agency Cyber Implementation in an Operational Technology Environment
Mark Salsberg, Principal, WGD Consulting, Inc.

Rail AI Research and Education at Rutgers University
Dr. Xiang Liu, Director of Rutgers Rail & Transit Program & Co-Director of Technology Transfer, National University Rail Center of Excellence

Applying Cyber Best Practices on Vancouver Skytrain Broadway Subway
Rahim Othman, Senior Director Rail and Transit Solutions, Parsons Corporation

12:00 PM
Conference Adjourns