Abstracts received by Monday, March 31st will be reviewed by the Planning Committee for consideration for presentation at the 2025 Railroad Environmental Conference and the Sustainability & Resiliency Day.

27th Railroad Environmental Conference

11-12 November 2025
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Railroad Environmental Conference is hosted by the Rail Transportation and Engineering Center (RailTEC) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as the premier gathering of railroaders, consulting engineers, academics and others involved in all aspects of railroad environmental engineering, management, and performance.

New: Sustainability & Resiliency Day

13 November 2025
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Hosted by:

The Sustainability & Resiliency (S&R) Day will be held in conjunction with the 2025 RREC.  The event will be hosted by the American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) and RailTEC at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The S&R Day will focus on how sustainability and resiliency concepts and best practices can be applied to a broad range of engineering design, maintenance, operations, capital projects, construction, sustainable materials, organizational change activities, etc.

Submission Requirements:

1. Primary Contact Information
2. Topic (see list of topics here)
3. Abstract Title (max 160 characters)
4. Abstract (max 500 words)
5. Author Information (Name, Organization, Email)

Abstract Guidelines:
In discussion with railroaders and consulting engineers regarding the technical content of the conference program, several factors and philosophies have consistently been articulated. Presentation topics should be evaluated based on the following criteria:

1. Abstract Quality – The abstract should clearly and concisely explain what the presentation will be about and its significance to railroad environmental performance.
2. Timeliness – Of current and/or future interest and significance to the railroad industry.
3. Relevance to Railroads – Generally be on a railroad-specific application or on a topic that can be directly applied to railroad environmental performance (but see #4 below).
4. Innovative – Concepts and technologies that are particularly innovative. Sometimes these may come from another field outside railroading and warrant presentation to expose the railroad industry to their potential.
5. Ability to Evaluate Success (or Failure) – If the topic represents application of a method, what can the presentation tell the audience about what did or did not work and why. The audience needs to be able to learn from the presentation.
6. Broad Significance – Topics with broad interest to conference attendees are better candidates for spoken presentations. Excellent, but narrow-interest topics may be better suited for a poster presentation.
7. Uniqueness – Topics that do not duplicate another in the session or conference.