Barkan recognized with national academic award for work on rail

The National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) presented Christopher P. L. Barkan with the Association’s Academic Award, for a career dedicated to promoting the understanding of railroad engineering and advancing rail technology.

Barkan is the Krambles Faculty Fellow in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) and director of the Railroad Engineering Program at Illinois. Under his leadership, the school has expanded the rail curriculum from one course to six, making it the largest dedicated rail program at any North American university. In 2010, Barkan and his colleagues added a course on High-Speed Rail Engineering—a significant step in the development of an American high-speed rail industry.

“Dr. Barkan has created something special in Urbana-Champaign, and you can see that in the high level of demand for the program’s graduates,” said NARP President Ross Capon. “The Railroad Engineering Program is the nation’s premier incubator for the next generation of men and women who will keep America’s rail network strong. Dr. Barkan’s efforts to make clear the need to expand similar capabilities at other universities are helping the nation by enhancing the industry’s ability to meet its huge human resources challenges.”

Barkan held a postdoctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center before joining the Association of American Railroads (AAR) in 1988 where he worked for 10 years in the Research & Test and the Safety & Operations departments in Washington, D.C. He joined the faculty at the University of Illinois in 1998. His research interests are in railroad transportation safety and risk analysis, hazardous materials transport, energy efficiency, rail capacity, railroad infrastructure and operating economics, and the development and cost-effectiveness of new rail technologies. 

In his role as director of the University of Illinois rail program, RailTEC, he has principal responsibility for the railroad engineering research and academic activities and coordinates and supports faculty and students, conducting research on a wide range of topics to improve rail safety, reliability and efficiency. He currently teaches courses in railroad transportation engineering, railway signaling and operation, and advances in rail technology. 

In January 2012, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) awarded a grant of $3.5 million to a multi-university consortium led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to establish a rail transportation and engineering research center. Barkan also serves as director of  the National University Rail (NURail) Center, which focuses on rail education and research to improve railroad safety, efficiency and reliability.

NARP established its Academic Award in 2011, to recognize university and college professors who have excelled in developing and promoting knowledge of passenger train transportation in the United States and Canada. This is the second time this award has been presented.

About the National Association of Railroad Passengers

NARP is the largest citizen-based organization advocating for train and rail transit passengers. We have worked since 1967 to expand the quality and quantity of passenger train service in the U.S. Our mission is to work towards a modern, customer-focused national passenger train network that provides a travel choice Americans want. Our work is supported by over 20,000 individual members.
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Contact: Christopher Barkan, director, National University Rail (NURail) Center and RailTEC, 217/244-6338.

Celeste Arbogast Bragorgos, director of communications, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 217/333-6955.

If you have any questions about the College of Engineering, or other story ideas, contact Rick Kubetz, editor, Engineering Communications Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 217/244-7716.