International Rail Conference Rolls Into Town

International Rail Conference Rolls Into Wellington

The rejuvenation and renaissance of rail is the key theme of a major international rail industry conference in Wellington next week, with over 600 delegates expected to attend from New Zealand, Australia and further afield.

CORE 2010 is the Railway Technical Society of Australasia’s (RTSA) biennial conference and is being held for the first time in New Zealand. The RTSA is a joint technical society of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ) and Engineers Australia, formed in 1997 to further the interests of the railway industry at large as well as its individual participants.

“CORE 2010 is about planning for the future and the re-emergence of rail as a sustainable, high capacity transport option,” says Organising Committee Chair, John Gardiner.

“Rail infrastructure has the ability to support economic development on both sides of the Tasman and around the world, so it’s important that we gather and hear about innovative technical advancements,” Mr Gardiner says.

“New Zealand is a very relevant example for the various challenges of rail system development and operation. We have unique geography and infrastructure that has suffered from under-investment.

“They say necessity breeds innovation and many of the solutions and strategies employed by New Zealand rail engineers to maintain and develop the NZ rail system will be explored through the conference sessions. NZ railway projects have won awards both in NZ and overseas.

“Sessions cover the whole gamut of topics relating to rail engineering from the environmental impacts of rail, regulations, policy and economics, safety and quality asset management, logistics and technology for both passenger and freight networks,” said Mr Gardiner.

CORE 2010 will be opened by the Minister of Transport, Hon Steven Joyce.

Keynote addresses will be given by two leading international rail engineering experts; Professor Andrew McNaughton, Chief Engineer of High Speed Two from the UK and Michael Roney, Chief Engineer of Canadian Pacific Railway, Chairman of the International Heavy Haul Association and Chair of the Canadian Railway Research Advisory Board.

Media who wish to attend the keynote presentations or conference sessions should contact the conference organisers Avenues Event Management.

ENDS

© Scoop Media