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Ex-Amtrak chief Gunn to address future of rail 1:05 p.m., Feb. 14, 2006--Former Amtrak president David L. Gunn will discuss The Future of Rail Transportation in America during the Building Inter-Metropolitan Rail Corridors forum to be held by the University of Delaware's Institute for Public Administration (IPA) on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at John M. Clayton Hall Conference Center on the Laird Campus The forum will provide scholars, transportation planners, policymakers and advocates an opportunity to discuss and assess future directions and strategies for rail service between America's cities. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. Jerome Lewis, director of IPA, will welcome forum participants at 9 a.m. and will be immediately followed by U.S. Sen. Thomas R. Carper's keynote presentation, "Rail Policy: A View from Washington." Jean-Paul Rodrigue of Hofstra University will discuss Inter-Metropolitan Rail Corridors and Regional Development at 9:30 a.m., and Thomas Till of the Cascadia Center in the Pacific Northwest, Howard Learner of the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago and Gene Skoropowski of the Capital Corridor Joint Powers Authority of California will discuss Achievements in and the Future of Rail Corridor Projects at 10:30 a.m. During lunch and afternoon sessions, speakers will discuss rail policy research, outline and assess the current policy and advocacy environment for rail corridors in relation to public awareness, citizen and organizational advocacy, state and national legislative support and future policy directions. During lunch, Martin E. Robins of the Voorhees Transportation Policy Institute will speak on Universities and Rail Policy Research. Allison L.C. de Cerreno, co-director of the Rudin Center for Transportation Policy and Management at New York University, will discuss Elements of Success for High-Speed Rail Projects in the U.S. at 1:15 p.m., and James P. RePass, president and chief executive officer of the National Corridors Initiative, will speak on Amtrak is Only the Symptom at 2 p.m. Gunn will speak at 2:45 p.m., followed by an open discussion. The forum is co-sponsored by IPA and the National Corridors Initiative with support from the Delaware Department of Transportation and the Wilmington Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Attendance is by invitation and persons interested in attending should contact Ivan Mitchell at [imitch@udel.edu] or Nell Downer at [ndowner@udel.edu], or call (302) 831-8971. For a program brochure, go to the IPA events web site page at [www.ipa.udel.edu/infrastructure/rail/corridors%5Fforum/] Article by Neil Thomas |