Featured Speakers

Emerging Technologies Panel Discussion

Monday, September 14 | 8:30 – 9:30 AM

The Emerging Technologies Panel will bring together leaders from the railway and technology sectors to explore the impact of emerging technologies on the future of rail. Facilitated by Walter F. Bleser, II, Vice President, Strategic Consulting, RailPros, the panel will discuss the challenges, opportunities, and solutions related to integrating new technologies to enhance rail operations.

Moderator

Walter F. Bleser, II, PE
Vice President, Strategic Consulting 
RailPros

Walt Bleser, PE, currently serves as Vice President, Strategic Consulting for RailPros and remains Principal of Unabridged Structures, LLC.  Prior to this role he was President and CEO of ARE Corporation, and previously the President and Co-Founder of SENSR Monitoring Technologies, LLC. He has over twenty years in the North American railway vertical working with every Class I railroad, major commuter railroad and several transit agencies. Named a Progressive Railroading Rising Stars Top 20 under 40 in 2013 and again an honorable mention by Railway Age for Top 20 under 40 in 2019. He has done everything from design and inspection of structures to implementing technology that makes railroads more efficient through the use of structural health monitoring systems and cloud-based bridge asset management programs.  Walt is an active participant in AREMA, currently serving as a Director, Structures Functional Group on the Board of Directors.  He is the previous Chair of Committee 7, Timber Structures, and a Subcommittee Chairman of Committee 10, Structures Maintenance & Construction, aiding in the production of the organization’s Bridge Management Best Practices.

Panelists

Matt Soule
Founder & CEO
Parallel Systems 

Matt Soule is the Founder & CEO of Parallel Systems, a company that deploys autonomous, battery-electric rail vehicles to move more freight by rail. Parallel’s technology enables railroads to expand market share by improving service quality, flexibility, and reach. The system works alongside traditional trains, complements existing operations, and integrates with railroad physical and digital infrastructure. 

Matt has over 20 years of experience developing advanced technologies within established industries and aerospace. Previously, he spent 13 years at SpaceX in various roles including leading teams in development and certification of the world’s first autonomous flight termination system, hazard analysis and risk mitigations for manned spacecraft, and Air Force certification of reusable rockets. Prior to SpaceX, Matt worked at Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and Moog. Matt received a Master of Science in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Northwestern University. 

Brett A. Story, PhD
Professor
Southern Methodist University

Brett A. Story, PhD is a Professor of structural engineering in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department and Director of the Smart Infrastructure Innovation Initiative (S3i) at Southern Methodist University. Story received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from Texas A&M University where, after graduation in 2012, he served as assistant director at the TAMU Center for Railway Research before joining the faculty at SMU in 2013. Story has a strong record of structural, infrastructure, and rail related research spanning 20 years from his graduate studies at Texas A&M University to his current research at SMU. Story’s research passion addresses society’s most pressing infrastructure resilience challenges through the development of novel and practical solutions fusing classical mechanics, instrumentation, and applied machine learning towards smarter infrastructure. In 2026, he was awarded a University Innovator Award from the Texas Innovation Conference; Story also brings his laboratory innovations to the classroom and has been awarded the Altshuler Distinguished Teaching Professor and Golden Mustang Teaching awards. Story’s work has been funded by FRA USDoT, industry, local government, and NSF and the impact of the S3i Laboratory has manifested in over 50 journal and conference articles, numerous invited talks and conference presentations and 4 issued patents.

State of the Industry

Wednesday, September 16 | 12:00 – 1:00 PM

Anthony B. Hatch
 Founder
ABH Consulting

Anthony (Tony) B. Hatch is a veteran analyst and financial consultant in the transportation industry with more than two decades of experience. He provided not only “traditional” institutional transport research, but also due diligence and other services to “new” forms of transport investment such as private equity, infrastructure and hedge funds in such areas as intermodal, rail maintenance and construction, rail cars and 3pls. He was a Senior Transportation Analyst on Wall Street for over thirty years, starting at major financial institutions prior to starting his independent analyst/consultancy in 1999.  Mr. Hatch is known for his knowledge of the intermodal area, where the various modes of freight transport converge, on which he has held several dozen specialized conferences.

Mr. Hatch graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in American History in 1982. He lives in New York City and enjoys baseball (watching LA Dodgers! – and playing), English soccer (Spurs) and history, US politics, and sports cars.