Berlin, Beijing, Bakersfield: Station Design Insights for U.S. Rail

12:00-1:00p.m. (PT) | Link to register. 

On the Right Track: The Transformative Potential of Rail

Discover the secrets behind over 50 years of global high-speed rail innovation in MTI’s newest webinar series! Explore station planning, station design development best practices, and groundbreaking projects from France, Germany, and Spain, featuring actionable insights from expert speakers. Join us as we explore how international high-speed rail success can guide U.S. professionals to shape the future of transit in our communities.

This webinar series is co-sponsored by APTA High-Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail Committee, California High-Speed Rail Authority, High Speed Rail Alliance, and US High Speed Rail Association.

Webinars include:

• Webinar #1 | December 11, 2024 | The French Case: Stations as City Boosters
• Webinar #2 | January 15, 2025 | The Spanish Case: Transformacion Rápida
• Webinar #3 | February 12, 2025 | The German Case: Rail Stations to Connect the World
• Webinar #4 | March 5, 2025 | Berlin, Beijing, Bakersfield: Station Design Insights for U.S. Rail

Webinar #4 - Berlin, Beijing, Bakersfield: Station Design Insights for U.S. Rail

Join us for the final installment of our webinar series On the Right Track: The Transformative Potential of Rail! This session features expert insights from Eric Eidlin, Station Planning Manager for the City of San Jose, and Heidi Sokolowsky, Founding Partner at Urban Field Studio. Both Eric and Heidi have worked on and learned from passenger rail transit projects in the U.S. and Europe for over two decades. Eric and Heidi will summarize some of the key takeaways from the past three webinars in the series and reflect upon and ask how global insights from world-class station design can influence the future of multimodal transit in California, the U.S., and beyond. They will also consider how recent federal policy shifts could influence the trajectory of high-speed rail projects in the U.S. Don’t miss this opportunity to join the conversation shaping the future of rail!

Featured Guests:

• Eric Eidlin, Station Planning Manager, City of San José Department of Transportation
• Heidi Sokolowsky, Founding Partner, Urban Field Studio

*1 PDH credit available

About the Speakers

Eric Eidlin is Station Planning Manager with the City of San Jose. In this role, he plays a leading role in the City’s efforts to transform Diridon Station into a world-class multimodal hub.

Eric brings a wealth of experience in high-speed rail (HSR) and intermodal facility planning to the City, including from his travels to France and Germany, where he has studied best practices in HSR system and station development. Eric previously worked as Sustainability Manager for the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Region 9 office in San Francisco, where he coordinated major federal interagency initiatives relating to sustainable transportation and development. Eric holds a master’s degree in urban design from the University of Toronto and a master’s degree in city planning from UCLA.

Heidi Sokolowsky is a founding partner at Urban Field Studio, an urban design firm based in San Francisco. Heidi has received her master’s degree in Architecture and Urban Design from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, and has worked on urban development and transit-centered projects for over 30 years, including station areas for HSR, BART, Caltrain, and L.A. Metro Stations. Heidi is currently a consultant to the California High-Speed Rail Authority focusing on station area planning, early site activation, and community engagement. She enjoys and collaborates on the design of urban places that are walkable, livable, and sustainable – and can evolve over time. She is also a regular user of trains and bikes. She has taught urban design at San José State University and at the Bauhaus University in Weimar.