Rod Diridon to Address US High-Speed Rail Association West Coast Conference

Rod Diridon, executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute, will address the US High-Speed Rail Association’s (USHSRA) West Coast Rail Conference in San Francisco. The event is set for Monday-Wednesday, June 2-4, 2014. As a leading advocate for high-speed rail, Mr. Diridon will be part of the opening panel on Monday morning discussing “Bringing High-Speed Rail to America.” For registration and other information, go to ushsr.com/events/sanfrancisco2014.html

“The panel topic will cover the benefits, opportunities, and challenges of a major new infrastructure project for America,” Mr. Diridon said. “The panel also will address high-speed rail successes from around the world and how they can be applied to America, the progress being made, status of the program, and what's coming next. Californians can be proud of their place at the head of this new transportation mode for the US.”

Other experts on the panel include Lisa Campbell, vice president of Autodesk; Andy Kunz, president and CEO of USHSRA; and Fiona Ma, former California Assembly Member.

Keynote addresses will be delivered by Jeff Morales, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority; Maria Ayerdi-Kaplan, executive director of Transbay Joint Powers; and Takis Salpeas, senior vice president and director of global rail at Parsons. Other conference speakers include Cathleen Galgiani, California Senator; James Ledford, mayor of Palmdale CA; Jim Ziglar of Deloitte Corporate Finance; Kevin Wedman of Bureau Veritas; Michael DePallo of Metrolink; Katherine Perez-Estolano of ELP; and many others.

“This annual conference brings together some of high-speed rail’s most knowledgeable people,” said Mr. Diridon. “Anyone who wants to know more about this transportation mode will learn not only about the California high-speed rail project, but also how private investment capital will be brought into the projects, how Americans can advocate for high-speed rail, how to bring multimodal transit centers into the mix, what the 21st century rail stations will include, and much more.”

Mr. Diridon added that this will be an excellent venue even for those who may be questioning the projects or who may be non-committal. “The experts will be here, and they can put everything into context,” he said.

ABOUT ROD DIRIDON, SR.

Rod Diridon, Sr., is executive director of the Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI), created by Congress in 1991. He is also chair of the US High-Speed Rail Association board of advisers. Mr. Diridon has chaired more than 100 international, national, state and local programs, most related to transit and the environment. He frequently provides legislative testimony on sustainable transportation issues and is regarded by many as the "father" of modern transit service in Silicon Valley. He was appointed by Governors Davis and Schwarzenegger, in 2001 and 2006, respectively, to the California High-Speed Rail Authority Board, of which he is chair emeritus. After many years of public service in various capacities in California, Santa Clara County renamed its main train station "San Jose Diridon Station" in his honor.

ABOUT THE USHSRA WEST COAST RAIL CONFERENCE

Following the ambitious investment plans of President Obama for the high speed railway industry, the US High Speed Rail Association was founded to focus entirely on advancing a state-of-the-art national high speed rail network across the country. This three-day conference will offer the necessary platform for in-depth knowledge sharing and networking while presenting innovative solutions to and by an international audience for expanding the high speed rail network in the US.

ABOUT THE MINETA TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE (MTI)

MTI conducts research, education, and information transfer programs focusing on surface transportation policy and management issues, especially related to transit. MTI was established by Congress in 1991 as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act and won national re-designation competitions in 2002, 2006 and 2011. The Institute is funded by Congress through the US DOT Research and Innovative Technology Administration, by the California Legislature through Caltrans, and public and private grants. In 2006 the US Department of Homeland Security selected MTI as a National Transportation Security Center of Excellence. The internationally respected members of the MTI Board of Trustees represent all major surface transportation modes. MTI is the lead institute for the Mineta National Transit Research Consortium, an affiliation of nine university transportation research centers. MTI is affiliated with San Jose (CA) State University’s College of Business.