Light Rail 2022

Conference sessions will take place in the Empire Ballroom on the lobby level of the Courtyard Boston Downtown.

Event Moderator: William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief, Railway Age

Wednesday, November 16

8:00 AM
Registration / Conference Check-in
Continental Breakfast

9:00 AM
Keynote Address
Erik Stoothoff, Chief Engineer and Acting Chief Operating Officer, MBTA

9:30 AM
History and Development of Light Rail in Boston
Rachel J. Burckardt, P.E., Assistant Vice President and Senior Project Manager, WSP USA

10:15 AM
Coffee Break

10:30 AM
Sponsor Spotlight with MAC Products
Introduction to Rigid Catenary and Fenway Case Study
Dave Zuercher, Sales Engineer, MAC Products Inc.

11:00 AM
ENGINEERING FOR OPERATIONS I

Lessons on Engineering Design
Alfred E. Fazio, P.E., BRT Rail Services

Technological and Operational Developments in Shared-Use LRT and Freight
(What is “Commuter Rail” and What is “Transit”?)
John Mardente, Civil Engineer – Passenger Rail Division, Federal Railroad Administration

12:00 PM
Luncheon in the Library on the 5th Floor
Guest Speaker
Kevin S. Corbett, President and CEO, New Jersey Transit

1:30 PM
LRV Interior Industrial Design for Post-COVID Operations
Cesar A. Vergara, President and Chief Designer, VergaraStudio

2:00 PM
Sponsor Spotlight with Piper Networks
Localization and ATP Solutions for Light Rail
Robert Hanczor, CEO, Piper Networks

2:10 PM
Pop-Up Metro Applications for the U.S.
Nate Asplund, Executive Vice President, Railroad Development Corporation

2:50 PM
Sponsor Spotlight with VHB
Kristine Wickham, P.E., New England Transportation Market Leader, VHB

3:00 PM
Afternoon Coffee Break

3:30 PM
Houston Metro Red Line Resignalization
Ken Luebeck, P.E., Director, Operational Engineering, Houston Metro

4:15 PM
ENGINEERING FOR OPERATIONS II

Improving Core System Capacity on DART
Gary Thomas, U.S. Transit Market Leader, Jacobs Engineering; Retired President/Executive Director, Dallas Area Rapid Transit

PTC: Vital vs. Non-Vital, Temporal Separation, Commuter and LRT
Larry Warren, Regional PTC Specialist, FRA

5:00 PM
Networking Reception

6:00 PM
Conference Day Ends

Thursday, November 17

7:30 AM
Continental Breakfast

8:30 AM
MBTA Green Line and Mattapan Line Transformation Projects

Overview of Light Rail Transformation
Rachel J. Burckardt, P.E., Assistant Vice President and Senior Project Manager, WSP USA
GLX Overview
John Dalton, GLX Program Manager, MBTA
Mattapan Line Transformation
A.J. Tanner, Project Manager, MBTA
Amanda De Giorgi, Program Manager, HNTB
Philippe Santos, PE, Program Manager, HNTB
GLX Fire and Life Safety Compliance
William Wong, Fire & Life Safety Senior Engineer, GLX Fire & Life Safety Technical Lead, Arup
GLX Red Bridge Junction Design
Rachel J. Burckardt, P.E.

10:30 AM
Coffee Break

10:45 AM
Converting Legacy Systems to Modern LRT Standards
Anthony Fazio, P.E., Manager, Rail Projects, Jacobs Engineering
Bill McClellan, Chief Safety and Training Officer, Alternate Concepts, Inc.

11:45 AM
Closing Commentary: Thoughts on LRT’s Future in North America
David Peter Alan, Contributing Editor, Railway Age

12:00 PM
End of Conference Sessions
Tour participants to have lunch on their own.

1:15 PM
Tour & Discussion of the Green Line Extension (GLX) Project

Space is limited. Please wear your badge and lanyard throughout the GLX tour!

Participants will gather in the lobby of the Courtyard Boston Downtown by 1:15 PM.

To begin the tour, we will walk as a group to Boylston station on the SE corner of Boston Common and board the MBTA Green Line. Terry McCarthy, MBTA/GLX Deputy Program Manager, Stakeholder Engagement and Rail Activation, and Martin Nee of City Point Partners will lead the tour, first taking participants from Boylston to the newly reconstructed elevated Lechmere Station in Cambridge. There will be ample opportunity for questions as Terry and Martin share the unique features of the Green Line – both in terms of history and the enhancements and innovations incorporated into the extension.

4:00 PM
Event Ends
Tour participants will return to the Courtyard Boston Downtown by 4pm.

(agenda subject to change)