Railway Age Next-Gen Freight Rail 2025

The main conference program takes place in the Crystal Room on the 5th floor.

7:00 AM
Exhibitor Set-up

8:00 AM
Registration / Badge Pick-up sponsored by The Greenbrier Companies
Continental Breakfast sponsored by CPKC

9:00 AM
Building and Expanding CPKC’s Transnational Service Network
Keith Creel, President and CEO, CPKC
with Railway Age Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono

Opening session sponsored by CPKC

9:45 AM
Coffee Break (sponsorship available)

10:00 AM
Long-Train Safety Research Initiatives
Christopher P.L. Barkan, Ph.D., Executive Director, RailTEC and The National University Rail Center of Excellence, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

10:45 AM
Innovation Spotlight presented by Piper Networks
ADVANCED WORK ZONES – Integrating Class 1 PTC Controls with Work Zone Management
Robert Hanczor, CEO, Founder, Piper Networks

11:00 AM
Engineering Excellence at G&W
Jeffrey Watson, Vice President Engineering, Genesee & Wyoming, and Railway Track & Structures 2024 Engineer of the Year
with RT&S Editor-in-Chief David C. Lester

11:30 AM
Innovation Spotlight Presented by TrinityRail
Finding the Future of Rail with Data-Driven Analytics
Michael Bruce, Senior Vice President of Services, RSI Logistics

11:45 AM
Luncheon in Presidents Hall on the 2nd floor sponsored by Plasser American
Honoring Railway Age’s 2025 25 Under 40 “Fast Trackers” 

1:30 PM
Pushing the Technology Envelope at CSX
Bill Jacobs, AVP of Innovation, CSX
Dave Mauger, Director of Innovation, CSX

2:15 PM
Innovation Spotlight presented by 4AI Systems, Inc.
Network Centric Train Control with Advanced Automatic Train Protection
Mark Wood, Chief Technology Officer, 4AI Systems, Inc.

2:30 PM
Energy Break (sponsorship available)

2:45 PM
Hydrogen Power for Main Line Heavy-Haul Freight
Bob Bremmer, Group Vice President Product Management, Wabtec
Corey Davis, Director of Innovation – Alternative Fuels & Energy Management, CSX
Kyle Mulligan, Assistant Vice President – Operations Technology, CPKC

3:30 PM
Innovation Spotlight sponsored by Unspace
Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) Powered Machine Vision Innovations for the Railyard
Jack Godsey, Rail Sales Consultant, Unspace

3:45 PM
New Paradigms for North American Freight Rail
Joe Hinrichs, President and CEO, CSX and Railway Age 2025 Railroader of the Year
with Railway Age Editor-in Chief William C. Vantuono

4:15 PM
Adjourn