Australia’s most prominent leaders in rail freight will present at the ARA’s Rail Freight Conference, to be held in Sydney on March 8-10, covering a range of hot topics in the sector.
The Rail Freight Conference is the only national conference dedicated to the rail freight sector and brings together senior executives from the rail freight and intermodal sectors to discuss the latest developments and research in the industry.
Presentations will cover the issues of sustainability, technology and innovation, Inland Rail, Intermodal and ports, supply chain, workforce harmonisation and education and upskilling and interoperability and productivity.
The keynote speaker, Mark Mazurek, CEO of Linfox, will focus on trends and market demands impacting freight customers and freight forwarders and the role that rail plays in the sector.
The newly appointed National Rail Safety Regulator and Chief Executive of the Office of the National Rail Safety Regulator (ONRSR), Natalie Pelham, will give an update on ONRSR’s 2024 priorities and Australia’s vision for national rail reform, while Wayne Johnson, CEO of ARTC, will address the conference on building national network resilience.
The conference will also hear from the Chair of the National Transport Commission (NTC) Carolyn Walsh on the NTC program of work to progress interoperability.
The following speakers have also been confirmed for the Rail Freight Conference:
- Aurizon managing director Andrew Harding – industry view on strategic priorities and issues impacting the sector.
- Asia-Pacific, Deutsche Bahn Engineering and Consulting GmbH Executive Director Milind Nirmal – Germany’s success story of combining freight and high speed rail infrastructure.
- KiwiRail CEO Peter Reidy – NZ freight market and business outlook.
- Pacific National Chief Strategy and Sustainability Officer Saskia Groen-in’t-woud – policy priority issues and strategic focus areas.
- Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts A/Dept Secretary Paula Stagg – National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy
- Victorian Department of Transport and Planning – Victorian Port Rail Shuttle Network metropolitan terminal strategy and proposed rebate strategy.
- ARA General Manager of Freight and Heavy Haul Georgia Nicholls – Future of Freight campaign priorities.
There will also be panel discussions on a range of topics with guests including:
- Mike Gallacher CEO Ports Australia
- Michael Hopkins CEO NTC
- Harry Roberts Technical Director Jacobs
- Hermione Parsons CEO Australian Logistics Council
- Tristan Anderson Executive Advisor Critical Infrastructure & Supply-Chain Strategy, GHD
- Kylie Hargreaves, Chief Sustainability officer, National Intermodal Corp
- Sam Crowford, Head of People, Arc Infrastructure
- Andrew Newman Director Policy and Strategy, Freight Victoria