AREMA Private Rail Technology Tour
Join the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) on the third of its successful railroad technology tours to be held Sept. 4-14.
The Private Rail Technology Tour (PRTT) will analyze the newly reborn market for privately operated trains on public railways. Included will be NTV’s Italo, HKX’s Hamburg Koln Express, Austria’s Westbahn and Regiojet, Czech Republic’s Leo Express, advances in mountain tunneling, railway maintenance procedures, and new light rail systems. For those involved in constructing privately operated trains in the U.S., this presents a unique opportunity to compare operations, cost structures, infrastructure sharing, and problem-solving.
This trip is designed for professionals who are involved in planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance of railroad and rail transit infrastructure. Those managing, teaching, or establishing transportation policies will also find this trip of great value. Each stopover will include activities general enough to appeal to persons of many divergent professional backgrounds.
Program Highlights:
Italy
- Rome Flumicino Airport Leonardo Express
- New Rome Tiburtina High Speed Rail Station
- NTV Italo Privately Operated High Speed Rail
- New Florence Belfiore High Speed Rail Station
- New Florence Light Rail System
- New Bologna underground High Speed Rail Station
- FS Trentalia ETR 500
- New Torino Porta Susa High Speed Rail Station
- New Torino Heritage Tram
- Torino to Padova High Speed Rail
- New Padova and Venice Guided Light Tram Systems
Austria
- Brenner Base Tunnel Project
- Innsbruck to Salzburg via OBB
- Salzburg to Linz via privately operated Railjet
- Privately operated Westbahn via new St. Polten 230 km/h HSR line
- New Vienna Central Station
- Innovative CAT airport-rail express
Czech Republic
- Privately operated Leo Express
- CD SuperCity train service
- Phoenix European Night Train
Germany
- New Berlin Hauptbahnhof
- New Berlin Air Rail Station
- Berlin to Hamburg ICE
- Hamburg to Copenhagen via train on ship
- Return via new ocean bridge-tunnel
- Hamburg to Cologne via privately operated HKX
Cologne Airport Rail Station
Cologne to Frankfurt via ICE High Speed Rail
and Air-Rail Link to FRA
*Program Highlights are subject to change.
All travel and hotel reservations will be made and paid for directly by each participant, offering attendees flexibility on price and schedule and allowing for use of airline and hotel rewards. A comprehensive itinerary and a list of suggested hotel locations and flights will be supplied. Some group reservations will be made on selected trains that are key to the itinerary.
AREMA, along with the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and the International Air Rail Organisation (IARO), are sponsoring the PRTT. Participants may receive professional development hours for attending this tour. APTA and IARO members will receive the AREMA Member registration fee of $600. For all non-members, the fee is $760. Space is limited for this tour and the registration deadline is July 15.
This tour follows our very successful 2008 European Rail Technology Tour and our 2010 Asia Rail Technology Tour. The PRTT will be led by Mark Walbrun, PE, vice president for CH2M Hill and Past AREMA group vice president – passenger and transit. Mark led the previous technology tours and in 2012 he was presented with a plaque recognizing his outstanding leadership and support of the AREMA International Study Tours at the AREMA 2012 Annual Conference & Exposition in Chicago.
