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The 4th annual Michigan Rail Conference will take place in Marquette Aug. 17-18. This year’s theme is Connecting the Dots: Business, Communities and Technology.
The program at Northern Michigan University will feature over 30 speakers in panel discussions and breakout sessions on topics including the future of rail in Michigan; preserving, maintaining and enhancing Michigan rail assets; UP rail operations; passenger operations in an era of lean public investment; UP shippers; shortline operations; and UP tech companies supporting the railindustry.
The keynote speakers are Tom Baldini, a member of the Michigan Technological University Board of Trustees, and Frank Patton, managing partner for Great Lakes Basin Railroad. A plenary session panel that discusses the future of rail in Michigan includes Tim Hoeffner, director of the Michigan Department of Transportation Office of Rail; Keith Borman, vice president and general counsel of the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association; and Ray Lang, chief of state government relations for Amtrak.
Participants will also take a field trip Thursday to various rail industry sites in the Upper Peninsula, including the Mineral Range Railroad, Lundin Mining Humboldt Mill, Potlatch Rail Operations at Sawyer International Airport, Escanaba & Lake Superior Car Manufacturing, CN Railroad Escanaba Ore Dock and Rotary Dumper, and Delta Manufacturing, Escanaba.
For more information, visit http://www.rail.mtu.edu/event/4th-annual-michigan-rail-conference.
