Save the Date: 2023 CRC Summit

Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive Editor
(Photograph Courtesy of Metra, via Twitter)

(Photograph Courtesy of Metra, via Twitter)

The Commuter Rail Coalition (CRC) on Sept. 18-20, 2023 is holding its second-annual summit in Chicago to “prepare for the challenges and the unprecedented opportunities awaiting commuter railroads.”

CRC—an association comprising 19 U.S. commuter rail agencies and 31 business members—will bring together thought leaders, policymakers and stakeholders from across the industry for a series of roundtable discussions, fireside chats, technical tours and networking.

“The CRC Summit is an opportunity to connect with industry peers, explore first-hand the progress of two massive new starts projects, marvel over the process that’s rehabbing Metra’s railcars and locomotives, and collaborate over today’s most pressing commuter rail issues,” reports CRC CEO KellyAnne Gallagher, who is one of the association’s nine co-founders and serves as a Railway Age Women in Rail program judge.

The Summit website will be live in May, allowing for event registration and providing a link to CRC’s negotiated rate at the InterContinental Hotel. Registration will be limited to 200 attendees. Non-members may register on a space-available basis.

The inaugural Commuter Rail Summit was presented in San Jose, Calif., last November, and featured:

  • Fireside chats, including Jennifer Mitchell, Deputy Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration, in conversation with Kevin Corbett, President of New Jersey Transit.
  • Panel sessions, including “The Future of Cities: Will the Traditional Commuter Ever Return?” and “Anatomy of a Brut Force [Cyber] Attack,” with such speakers as Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Director of Rail Transformation Alistair Sawers, Trinity Metro Senior Director of IT Bruce Lewis, and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Director of Strategic Planning and Analysis Ryan Judge.
  • Technical tours of Caltrain’s electrification project and new railcars, as well as its backup control center.
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