The 11th International Heavy Haul Association Conference was held from 21 – 24 June 2015 in Perth, Western Australia at the world class facilities of the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The aim of the conference was to share knowledge and experiences among railway researchers, practitioners and decision makers worldwide.
The theme of the 2015 conference was Operational Excellence, and focused on the exchange of information to benefit the world’s heavy haul operations with emphasis on technical advancement, innovation, development, management and maintenance of operations.
This conference, extremely successful, gave the opportunity to deliver 169 high quality papers. The papers covered many areas of heavy haul operations such as:
- Increasing axle loads and train systems
- Latest developments in signalling systems to liner reliability and increase throughput
- Rail maintenance
- Derailment prevention
- Wheel condition
- Infrastructure and rolling stock condition monitoring (particularly in remote locations)
- Bridge rehabilitation
- Improving the environmental impact of heavy haul rail operations.
From a UIC perspective, Tom Sargant, UIC representative for UIC Asia-Pacific, chaired a session of the conference, raising awareness of UIC’s activities.
