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Agenda

Monday, November 27, 2023

3:00 – 7:00 p.m. Registration

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

6:30 – 8:30 a.m. Registration

General Session – Count Basie Ballroom

Time Topic Presenter

8:30 – 8:45 a.m. Safety Briefing and Call to Order Karl Alexy, Associate Administrator 

for Railroad Safety; Chief Safety 

Officer – FRA

8:45 – 9:15 a.m. Welcome and Opening Remarks Amit Bose, Administrator – FRA 

9:15 – 9:45 a.m. FRA Regulatory and Railroad Safety Advisory 

Committee Update

Karl Alexy – FRA

9:45 – 10:00 a.m. Break

10:00 – 10:30 a.m. Keynote Address Honorable Jennifer Homendy,

Chair – National Transportation 

Safety Board

10:30 – 11:30 a.m. FRA’s Safety Culture Assessment on Class I 

Railroads 

Dr. Amanda Emo, Senior 

Engineering Psychologist – FRA

11:30– 1:00 p.m. Lunch (not provided)

Breakout Room 1 – Andy Kirk Room

Time Topic Presenter

1:00 – 1:50 p.m. Developing the Next Generation of Railroaders 

– Leaders in Safety Start Day 1

Will Gebhardt, Senior Manager,

Engineering Training – Canadian 

National Railway (CN)
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Dean Luchik, Senior Manager,

Transportation Training – CN

Matt Jozwiak, Sr. Manager 

Mechanical Training – CN

2:00 – 2:50 p.m. FRA Back 2 Basics Program John Brahaney, Specialist – FRA

3:00 – 3:50 p.m. PATH’s Scenario-Based Training Antionette Walker, Principal 

Program and Training Manager –

PATH

4:00 – 4:50 p.m. Rail Transit Safety Updates Joe DeLorenzo, Associate 

Administrator for Transit Safety and 

Oversight – Federal Transit 

Administration

Breakout Room 2 – Julia Lee Room

Time Topic Presenter

1:00 – 1:50 p.m. FRA Blocked Crossing Initiatives James Payne, Staff Director – FRA

2:00 – 2:50 p.m. Smart Railroad Crossing Project David Lindsey, Regional System 

Administrator – City of Houston 

Mayor's Office of Public Safety and 

Homeland Security

Douglas Pasley, Vice President of 

Field Operations – Haystax

3:00 – 3:50 p.m. Top 100 At-Risk Crossings Rocky Scott, Deputy Staff Director

– FRA

Frank Frey, General Engineer – FRA

4:00 – 4:50 p.m. Trespassing Deterrence and Mitigation 

Program

Michael Hendley, Transportation 

Services Manager – Capital Corridor 

Joint Powers Authority 

Breakout Room 3 – Bennie Moten Room

Time Topic Presenter

1:00 – 1:50 p.m. Safety Culture and the Criticality of Leadership 

Buy-In

Larry Day, Transit Division Manager

– Transportation Safety Institute

2:00 – 2:50 p.m. Dominoes, Cheese, and Trees: Accident 

Investigation and Analysis Methods

Troy Jackson, Director –

Transportation Safety Institute

3:00 – 3:50 p.m. C3RS – Year in Review Mike Ballard, C3RS Expert Analyst –

National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration (NASA)

4:00 – 4:50 p.m. Communication Breakdown – C3RS Analysis Leonard Weaver, C3RS Project 

Manager – NASA

Breakout Room 4 – Mary Lou Williams Room

Time Topic Presenter

1:00 – 1:50 p.m. FRA’s Safety Management System Regulations Darrell Fizer, Transportation 

Specialist – FRA

Dr. Rachel Grice, Senior 

Engineering Psychologist – FRA
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2:00 – 2:50 p.m. RRS Innovations and Standards Matt Brewer, Staff Director – FRA

3:00 – 3:50 p.m. Fatigue Risk Management Program – Amtrak’s 

Implementation Plan Update

Tim Tyran, Director, System Safety 

Programs – Amtrak

Bartley Beasley, Senior Manager, 

Fatigue Risk and Human 

Performance – Amtrak

4:00 – 4:50 p.m. FRA Public Safety Site Overview Lindsay Peters-Dawson, Program 

Analyst – FRA

Wednesday November 29, 2023

Breakout Room 1 – Andy Kirk Room

Time Topic Presenter

8:00 – 8:50 a.m. Safety Shortfalls in Rail Car Inspection Dave Arouca – Brotherhood of 

Railroad Carmen

9:00 – 9:50 a.m. Very Long Trains – Study Analysis Andrew Martin, Program Analyst –

FRA

10:00 – 10:50 a.m. Union Pacific Railroad – Precision Train 

Building

Taylor Weisbeck – Senior Director 

Operating Practices and System 

Compliance – Union Pacific Railroad

11:00 – 11:50 a.m. Norfolk Southern – Train Make Up Shannon Mason, General Road 

Foreman – Norfolk Southern (NS)

Randy Hunt, Senior Director 

Operations Safety – NS

Breakout Room 2 – Julia Lee Room 

Time Topic Presenter

8:00 – 8:50 a.m. Rail Information Sharing Environment (RISE) Dr. Neeraj Koul, Senior Data 

Scientist – FRA

Dr. Starr Kidda, Supervisory 

Engineering Psychologist – FRA

9:00 – 9:50 a.m. Supporting Rail Employees Through Critical 

Incident Stress: Current Practices and 

Opportunities

Dr. Shala Blue, Engineering 

Psychologist – FRA

Megan France-Peterson, 

Engineering Psychologist – Volpe 

Danielle Hiltunen, Engineering 

Psychologist – Volpe 

10:00 – 10:50 a.m. Safety and Smiles Justin Meko, VP, Operational Safety 

– Amtrak

11:00 – 11:50 a.m. Caltrain’s Path to a Strong Safety Culture and 

Roadway Worker Protection

Mike Meader, Chief Safety Officer –

Caltrain
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Breakout Room 3 – Bennie Moten Room 

Time Topic Presenter

8:00 – 8:50 a.m. Training for Maintenance of Way: What is 

Required, When It’s Required, and Recurrent 

Training 

Lance Hawks, Human Performance 

Specialist – FRA

Les Hanlon, Director of Compliance 

and Development – National 

Railroad Safety Services

9:00 – 9:50 a.m. National Registered Apprentice Program and 

Part 243

Michele Malski, Founder and 

President – SPRING

Dave Harrison, Executive Director of 

Workforce Development – Fastport 

10:00 – 10:50 a.m. Moving Beyond Compliance – Safety Processes 

That Can Move the Needle

Kellie Andrews, Vice President of 

Safety, Security, Quality and 

Environment – Keolis

11:00 – 11:50 a.m. Safety Technology and Advancements Steve Ladislaw, Assistant VP, System 

Safety & Technical Training – Amtrak

Kevin McCarthy, Director of Ops 

Safety – Amtrak

Breakout Room 4 – Mary Lou Williams Room 

Time Topic Presenter

8:00 – 8:50 a.m. Voluntary Safety Reporting Matt Hardison, Senior Principal –

MITRE

9:00 – 9:50 a.m. Railroads and First Responders: A GIS Link Jeremy Kramer, Vice President –

Louisville and Indiana Railroad

10:00 – 10:50 a.m. Update on APTA Standards for Passenger 

Equipment

Brian Sooter, Director, Standards –

American Public Transportation 

Association

11:00 – 11:50 a.m. Data Analytics in Operating Practices Tamara Sajic, Assistant Director, 

Analytics – CPKC

11:50– 1:20 p.m. Lunch (not provided)

General Session – Count Basie Ballroom

Time Topic Presenter

1:20 – 3:00 p.m. Train Make-Up Best Practice and Lessons 

Learned

Class I Railroads Round Table

FRA Facilitator

3:00 – 3:15 p.m. Break

3:15 – 4:30 p.m. Ask the FRA FRA Leadership