RSSI hosts 1,550 in Grapevine

The Railway Systems Suppliers Inc. 56th Annual C&S Exhibition at the Gaylord Texan Resort in Grapevine, Tex., in late June 2016 attracted more than 1,550 rail and transit customers, suppliers and guests.

Representatives from the seven North American Class I railroads, 27 Class II and Class III freight railroads and commuter rail and transit agencies attended the two-day exhibition, which featured 193 exhibitor booths, a cyber café, four charging stations, and three food courts where breakfast, lunch and afternoon receptions were available to all attendees. Following are highlights.

RSSI sponsored a seminar on the current version of, and proposed revisions to, the Manual for Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). Bruce Friedman of the Federal Highway Administration and Jerry Martin of the Federal Railroad Administration conducted the seminar on June 28, the day before the exhibition opened. Bruce described to attendees from railroads, transit agencies and suppliers of highway crossing warning devices how updates and revisions to the MUTCD are selected and how they might affect rail/highway grade crossing installation, testing and maintenance.

On June 28, RSSI also sponsored the Annual General Meeting of the North American Section of the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE). More than 60 attendees heard presentations from retired CSX Chief Signal Engineer Bill Scheerer, WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff’s David Thurston, FRA’s Patrick Sullivan and BNSF Detector Systems Engineer Andrew Crouch on such subjects as standards and their organizational impact on the rail industry, highway-rail grade crossing activation failures and slide fence research.

On June 29 Michael Choat, President of Wabtec subsidiary Railroad Controls Limited and 2016 RSSI Board of Directors President, cut the ribbon and—dressed in a conductor’s hat and coat, gave the traditional “All Aboard” welcoming everyone to the opening of the 2016 Exhibition.

“The RSSI exhibition offers an opportunity for all RSSI member companies to exhibit their products and services to their rail and transit customers,” said RSSI Executive Director Mike Drudy. “We would like to thank the rail and transit customers and all of the exhibitors for helping to make the 2016 C&S Exhibition another successful event.”