On July 6, the Second International Conference on Rail Transportation (ICRT2021), sponsored and hosted by Southwest Jiaotong University and chaired by Academician Zhai Wanming, concluded with great success after the completion of two days’ tightly scheduled academic presentations, exchanges, and discussions. Under the influence of COVID-19 pandemic, the 2nd ICRT was held both online and offline, and foreign experts and scholars interacted with participants at the venue via video link. Live streams on the keynote speeches were also made available to audience at home and abroad.

This Conference has received tremendous support from many co-sponsors such as National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Innovation Center of High Speed Train, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Tongji University, Delft University of Technology, China Academy of Railway Sciences, Royal Institute of Technology, Central South University, Politecnico di Milano, Central Queensland University, Beijing Jiaotong University and University of Technology Sydney.

In addition to 9 keynote speeches, more than 100 reports in 18 group sessions and 2 exhibitions were staged within two days. This conference has become a hotspot of the world’s rail transit industry, and 71 renowned experts and scholars were invited to serve as members of the International Scientific Committee, including 40 from 14 countries outside China such as the United States, Britain, Germany, Canada, Australia, Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Iran, Denmark, Japan, Portugal and Norway. About 300 participants attended the conference offline, and nearly 10,000 domestic and foreign scholars watched the keynote speeches through online platforms. By sharing and discussing their latest research results, experts at the conference obtained new ideas and methods for the development of rail transit technologies, benefiting their future researches and the progress of this industry.

A total of 9 top experts in different disciplines of rail transit were invited to give the following keynote speeches at the conference.

Prof. Buddhima Indraratna, University of Technology Sydney, Australia

Recycled Materials in Railroad Substructure – An Energy Perspective；

Prof. Mehdi Ahmadian, Virginia Tech, USA

Achieving Improved Understanding of Wheel-rail Interface Dynamics through Roller Rig Testing

Prof. Maksym Spiryagin, Central Queensland University, Australia

Problems, Assumptions and Solutions in Locomotive Design, Traction and Operational Studies

Prof. Yongle Li, Southwest Jiaotong University, China

Effect of External Excitation on Vehicle-bridge Coupling Vibration

Prof. Yunmin Chen, Zhejiang University, China

Geodynamics of High-speed Railway

Prof. Simon Iwnicki, University of Huddersfield, UK

Applying Railway Research to Industry Problems

Prof. Sebastian Stichel, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden

Wheel and Rail Damage Prediction as Basis for Maintenance Planning

Prof. António Gomes Correia, University of Minho, Portugal

A Geomechanics Classification for the Rating of Railroad Subgrade Performance；

Prof. Zili Li, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands

Mechanics of Wheel-rail Contact in Statics and Dynamics: Past, Now and Future

Participants and guest speakers were enthusiastically engaged in discussions via video link, and the success of the Conference was highly recognized throughout against the backdrop of the global epidemic.

At the closing ceremony, 5 Excellent Paper Awards were granted to the selected, covering 2 Excellent Paper Awards for Young Professionals (Dr. Andreas Andersson from KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden and Dr. He Chao from Tongji University, China) and 3 Excellent Paper Awards for Doctoral Candidates (Rohan Kulkarni, doctoral candidate at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden, Qu Shuai, doctoral candidate at Southwest Jiaotong University, China, and Sundar Shrestha, doctoral candidate at the Central Queensland University, Australia). Subsequently, honorary certificates were presented by Academician Zhai Wanming to Dr. He Chao and doctoral candidate Qu Shuai on behalf of the winners of Excellent Paper Awards.

Academician Zhai Wanming, chair of the ICRT2021 Scientific Committee, announced that the third International Conference on Rail Transit would be held at Tongji University, Shanghai in 2024, and then Professor Zhou Shunhua of Tongji University took the stage and delivered a welcome speech on behalf of the host of the next conference.

The success of this Conference not only promotes the internationalization of Southwest Jiaotong University and the development of world-class discipline of transportation, but also the international status and influence of China’s rail transit industry.