Big Data Conference

We are looking forward to seeing you on December 10 & 11 at the 2025 “Big Data” in Railroad Maintenance Planning conference!

The conference will begin at 8:30am and take place in the Trabant Theatre, located in the Trabant Student Center at 17 West Main Street, Newark, Delaware, 19716.  There is a parking garage adjacent to the student center, across from the Deer Park Tavern.  If the garage is full, there is a large public lot about a block away, on Delaware Avenue behind Grotto’s Pizza.  Unfortunately, we are unable to validate parking.

There will be a registration desk on the 1st floor near the Trabant Theater where you can pick up your badges or register.

Complimentary coffee, tea, water and light snacks will be available outside of the Trabant Theatre throughout the day. For lunch, there are restaurants in the student center which offer grab-and-go menu items. To order from a restaurant in the student center, you must order through the kiosks in the food court or through the Grubhub app—you cannot order at the counter.  Alternatively, Main Street offers many options for lunch, both buffet-style and sit-down restaurants.

The Wednesday evening reception will be held at the Audion on UD’s STAR campus, about a mile from the student center.  Directions to the STAR campus will be in your conference program.

Hotel accommodations:

Embassy Suites, 654 South College Ave, Newark, DE 19713

Courtyard by Marriott, 400 David Hollowell Drive, Newark, 19711

Hyatt Place Newark/Main Street, 94 East Main Street Building 1000, Newark, Delaware 19711

Check out discounts at these and other area hotels with Campus Travel Partner.

In January, we will compile those presentations for which we received permission to share.

If you have any questions or would like copies of the presentations, please contact Christine Murray at camurray@udel.edu.

Converting the Mountain of Data Collected by Railway Systems
into Effective Maintenance Planning Information with a Focus on
Railway Needs and Practical Applications

This conference is organized by the University of Delaware’s Railroad Engineering and Safety Program, Big Data Center, and the College of Engineering, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

About the Conference

Modern Railways are making increasing use of new generation inspection and operating technology to obtain more and more data on the condition of the track, equipment, and operations. This extensive amount of data, which includes data of increasing complexity as well as volume, has led to a condition known as “Big Data”, where the volume of data is such that traditional analysis techniques are no longer viable to efficiently make use of all of this large volume of data. Thus, important information is often buried in this “mountain” of data.  Since railways need to convert this data into useable information to help them plan their maintenance and capital programs as well as their ongoing operations, there is a need for the application of new and improved analysis techniques to make this conversion from data into information. One such area of improved data analysis is the use of “Big Data” or Data Analytics with its associated statistical analysis techniques which is the focus of this conference.

The 2025 conference is intended to expand on previous years’ conferences and introduce these new and emerging analysis techniques and to show how they can be applied to the large volume of inspection and operational data collected by railways to improve their planning of the critical capital and maintenance programs. This year’s conference focuses on new and emerging applications of “Big Data” analytics to include infrastructure and rolling stock maintenance planning and railroad operations. The program for 2025 will use a 1 ½ day format with a full day on Wednesday December 10, 2025 and a half day on December 11, 2025 with a reception the evening of December 10, 2025.

For more information contact: camurray@udel.edu

Call for Presentations

At this time, we are inviting presentations for the Big Data in Railroad Maintenance Planning conference. Presentations will be 20 minutes each and can be in the following areas:

• Big Data Problems and Issues in Railroad Engineering , Rolling Stock, and Operations
• Applications of Big Data Solutions to Railroad Engineering, Rolling Stock and Operations problems
• Big Data Theory as Applied to Railroad Engineering, Rolling Stock and Operations problems
• Problems and solutions; Case Studies in Big Data in Railroad Engineering. Rolling Stock, and Operations.

If you are interested in making a presentation, please submit by e-mail a one paragraph description of the presentation topic (200 words) to

Dr. Allan M Zarembski; Professor and Director of the Railroad Engineering and Safety Program, University of Delaware at dramz@udel.edu

Please submit your proposed presentation by June 30, 2025.

You will be advised of your selection and inclusion by August 30, 2025.

Call for Sponsors

The Big Data in Railroad Maintenance Planning conference is soliciting sponsorships for the 2025 conference.

Sponsorships are available in the following categories:

Reception Sponsors [Platinum] at $2000.

Reception sponsors will be acknowledged throughout the conference and Wednesday evening’s reception to include.

• Special reception sponsor posters at the Thursday evening reception
• Special announcement at Thursday evening reception
• Acknowledgement as Reception [Platinum] Sponsor on all Conference Program
• On Sponsors Posters in the Conference Hall and Conference Hall Lobby
• Recognition during the Conference

General Sponsorship [Gold Sponsors] at $1000.

Sponsors will be acknowledged throughout the conference to include.

• Acknowledgement as General [Gold] Sponsor on all Conference Program
• On Sponsors Posters in the Conference Hall and Conference Hall Lobby
• Recognition during the Conference

If you are interested in being a Reception or General Sponsor please e-mail Dr. Allan M Zarembski; Professor and Director of the Railroad Engineering and Safety Program, University of Delaware at dramz@udel.edu

Presented By:

2024 Platinum Sponsors

2024 Gold Sponsors