August 19, 2019 - TRA Newswire -

The date for the 16th Annual Southwestern Rail Conference was announced today. The premiere freight and passenger rail conference held each year in Texas will be January 23rd and 24th, 2020 at the Magnolia Hotel-Dallas/Park Cities/SMU.

The only all-rail conference of its kind in Texas will focus on important freight and passenger rail issues of the day. "With 2020 being a quiet year in Austin, we are hoping to get members of the legislature to talk about their views of the future for moving both freight and people in Texas", said Texas Rail Advocates President Peter LeCody. "With Texas staying on a high-growth curve we want to here the views of our elected and appointed officials on what they see ahead for transportation in the next 10-20-30 years."

The 2019 conference highlights included Union Pacific Railroad as they launched their Unified Plan 2020 operating system; an in depth discussion on Positive Train Control; members of the news media and their take on transportation issues; Short Line initiatives in Congress and the state legislature; a progress report from Texas Central Railway building the Dallas-Houston bullet train; how the TEXRail regional line to DFW Airport was built.

The Magnolia, on the Central Expressway Dallas/Park Cities corridor has been the host hotel for the past four years and is easily accessible from the DART Mockingbird light rail station as well as offering plenty of free parking.