The Freight Rail Research Consortium recently launched to strengthen the freight rail industry’s long-term research and analytical capabilities through collaborative, data-driven research and policy research.
Led by the Association of American Railroads (AAR), the consortium also includes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California, Berkeley, Rutgers University, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. These partnerships will explore a variety of topics including the economic value of freight rail to businesses, consumers and communities; emerging technologies and innovation; freight demand, productivity, and competitiveness; infrastructure investment and economic growth; rail economics and freight transportation markets; supply chain resilience and system performance; trade, industrial development, and freight flows; and transportation policy and regulatory issues.
The consortium also will host conferences, workshops, collaborative research and ongoing dialogue with academia, researchers, policymakers and industry leaders.
“By bringing together leading universities, industry experts and policymakers, we’re investing in the ideas, evidence and manpower that will help the freight rail industry better anticipate change, inform public policy and solve the complex challenges of the future,” said Rand Ghayad, AAR policy and economics and chief economist senior vice president.
The consortium aims to remedy the fact that rail economics, freight markets, infrastructure investment and transportation policy are understudied.