The TRB’s 91st Annual Meeting will be held in Washington, DC. The spotlight theme for the 91st Annual Meeting is "Transportation: Putting Innovation and People to Work." The paper submission portal closed on August 1st, 2011. Registration and the accommodation portal remain open.
Level crossing related sessions are as follows:

February 3rd, 2012

The topics to be covered in this two-day program are:

The next plenary meeting of the European Level Crossing Forum (ELCF) will be held in Hamar, near Oslo courtesy of JBV, the national rail infrastructure manager. An agenda for the meeting is awaited.
For more information, please contact Isabelle Fonverne, ELCF Secretary at fonverne@uic.org.

The intention of CETRA 2012, being held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, is to bring together scientists and experts in the fields of road and railway engineering and give them one more opportunity to present the results of their research, findings and innovations. Road and railway infrastructures are closely related, but scientific and professional gatherings that include both fields simultaneously have rarely been organized. The development of a society, particularly its economic development, at present is unthinkable without a developed transportation infrastructure, particularly roads and railways. The increased amount traffic, both passenger and cargo, demands not only the development of the vehicles themselves (increasing their cargo capacity and speed), but it also requires the timely construction and regular maintenance of transportation infrastructure. The conference will be an opportunity for scientists and experts in the field of roads and railways to analyse problems in everyday engineering practice and to offer possible solutions for more efficient planning, designing, construction and maintenance in these areas.

Abstracts of proposed papers should be to be in English and submitted by October 15th, 2011.

Further information is available at the CERTA 2012 website:
http://www.grad.unizg.hr/cetra/ocs/index.php/cetra/index/pages/view/goals

Mark your diary for the International Level Crossing Awareness Day (ILCAD) and watch for further information early in the new year.

Meanwhile, if your organisation has not previously participated in ILCAD and would like to do so in 2012, please contact Isabelle Fonverne at fonverne@uic.org.

Operation Lifesaver has announced that it will gather its state programme leaders and rail safety partners together in Denver from June 26th to 28th, 2012 to celebrate 40 years of community outreach during its 17th International Symposium and Training Seminars. The 2012 safety conference will be held at the Embassy Suites Denver-Downtown/Convention Center, 1420 Stout Street.

“In the four decades since its founding in 1972, Operation Lifesaver’s grassroots network has become part of the national rail safety solution through partnerships, safety presentations, and media outreach,” said Operation Lifesaver President Helen M. Sramek. “At next year’s Symposium, we’ll pay tribute to the people and organizations who have contributed to a dramatic reduction in highway-rail grade crossing collisions, deaths and injuries.”

This conference which is to be held in San Francisco will include a special session looking at level crossing issues from a human factors perspective. The aim of the session is to present contemporary research focussed on highway-rail level crossing safety.

Papers are welcomed on a range of human factors topics relevant to level crossing safety including (but not limited to) the following: novel techniques for identifying the role of human factors failures in level crossing crashes; understanding how road user experience and expectancy influence road user behaviour and safety at level crossings; understanding and modelling road user and system performance and/or risk at level crossings; the design and evaluation of in-vehicle and infrastructure-based countermeasures; and the role of contemporary human factors methods, driver simulation and on-road assessments, in driving level crossing research.

The deadline for receipt of abstracts (500 words) is November 15th, 2011. For further details go to http://www.ahfe2012.org/
If you wish to discuss a potential submission, or need more information, please contact Mike Lenné at michael.lenne@monash.edu.