In a recent announcement by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the National University Rail (NURail) Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was awarded a $1.4 million Tier 1 University Transportation Center (UTC) grant. Established in 2012, NURail is a multi-university rail transportation and engineering research center that includes the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Urban Transportation Center. Christopher Barkan, professor of civil and environmental engineering, is the Director of NURail. This past Spring, Senator Dick Durbin and Congressman Rodney Davis led delegation support letters on behalf of our proposal for the grant, which will address rail infrastructure, operational safety, and systems integration. The University of Illinois will be involved with a total of five of the 2013 UTC grants.
