Subscribe
August 1, 2025|Light Rail

Benesch’s Barbara M. Schroeder Featured at 2025 Light Rail Conference

Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief

Among the list of reasons to attend the much-anticipated 2025 Light Rail Conference is Embracing Sustainability & Resiliency Through Education & Professional Development, a presentation by Barbara M. Schroeder, P.E., P.M.P., Rail Transit Project Manager at Benesch. This year, Railway Age and RT&S are pleased to venture to Pittsburgh on Oct. 1-2 with a packed lineup of LRT professionals who are significantly influencing today’s rail transit industry.

“The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance of Way Association (AREMA) Board of Directors approved an implementation strategy and approach for Sustainability and Resiliency in June 2023,” notes Schroder. “By incorporating sustainable design elements focused on construction, operation and maintenance of assets, AREMA further demonstrates alignment to the railway industries’ infrastructure investments that improve the productivity and sustainability of their operations. Led by AREMA Technical Committee 13, Environmental, outreach to AREMA functional groups and committees was conducted to educate, engage, and empower AREMA members to embrace sustainability and resilience. AREMA Committee 24, Education and Professional Development is currently reviewing the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals to determine how we can embrace Sustainability and Resiliency through our committee activities. Committee 24 is also considering how we can support AREMA technical committees and functional groups to deliver education and professional development avenues to enhance their work on recommended practices to align with the UN SDGs. My presentation will summarize a quantitative and qualitative process to collaborate and evaluate the UN SDGs with respect to education and professional development. This is a call within AREMA and to sister organizations, transit agencies big and small, and railroads to collaborate, educate, engage, and empower our members to embrace sustainability and resiliency in practice and action.”

This edition of our annual in-person Light Rail Conference will be filled with dynamic panels and the chance to network with a wide-reaching group of like-minded professionals. This event will offer a comprehensive review of the specialized technical, operational, environmental, and socio-economic issues associated with light rail transit (LRT) in an urban environment. All this will take place at the Fairmont Pittsburgh. Plus, don’t miss a special tour of the Pittsburgh Regional Transit PRT light rail system. The 26.2-mile network runs from the North Shore and Downtown Pittsburgh areas, through Pittsburgh’s southern neighborhoods and many South Hills suburbs. With 80 light rail vehicles in its fleet, PRT aims to be the “region’s transportation mode of choice by delivering an innovative network that is clean, sustainable, and equitable; a network that enables individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive.”

Meet Barbara M. Schroeder, P.E., P.M.P.

Barbara M. Schroeder offers several decades of experience managing and executing rail and transit projects both nationally and internationally. Her extensive expertise extends to the planning, environmental, engineering and construction aspects of transit projects. She excels in managing stakeholder concerns and overseeing project quality, with experience in geometric, structural and systems design oversight. Schroeder has developed and implemented numerous quality management plans, ensuring compliance with ISO 9001, FTA and CTA guidelines. She has served as a project and quality manager across all phases of rail and transit development, including planning, conceptual, preliminary and final design, installation and construction. Schroeder is actively involved in AREMA as an Environmental Liaison and Vice Chair of the APTA Power, Signals and Communications working group.

Program Highlights

Presented Oct. 1-2 at the Fairmont Pittsburgh, the 2025 Railway Age and RT&S Light Rail Conference is a must-attend premier conference on LRT for transportation professionals in planning, operations, civil engineering, signaling, and vehicle engineering. Students at the undergraduate and graduate levels are also welcome.

In addition to Barbara M. Schroeder, transit leaders on the program include Andy Lukaszewicz and  Justin Selepack of Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT), Bryan K. Moore and Casey Blaze of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA), Henry Posner and Ida Posner of Railroad Development Corporation (RDC), Harry Skoblenick of Alstom, and many more.

Key sessions will focus on:

  • Strategic insights into major new-builds and expansion projects.
  • Engineering sessions illustrating how to best support long-term efficiency and safety.
  • Capital program oversight, risk mitigation, and performance tracking.
  • Resilience planning, sharing adaptive strategies for extreme weather events.
  • Improvements to customer-facing technologies such as fare collection, communications and security.
  • The viability and scalability of alternative propulsion technologies.
  • Confronting funding challenges.

Supporting Organizations

Industry support for the Railway Age / RT&S 2025 Light Rail Conference is already strong, including sponsorship from 4AI Systems, Piper Networks, Benesch, and RDC.

Learn More