Call for Papers & Presentations

2012 Annual Conference & Exposition

September 16-19, 2012
Chicago, IL

The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) invites all interested parties to submit Papers on subjects of interest to the railway engineering community to be considered for publication and/or presentation at the AREMA 2012 Annual Conference & Exposition in Chicago, IL from September 16 – 19, 2012.

Although some papers may be selected for General Plenary Session presentation, all papers will be organized into subject tracks. Papers will be selected based on their originality, timeliness, and suitability within the subject track in which they will be presented. AREMA 2012 Annual Conference will include the following subject tracks (organized around the AREMA Functional Groups and interests): Communications & Signals, Engineering Services, Maintenance, Passenger & Transit, Structures, and Track. There will also be a separate sub-track within the C&S Functional Group Session on Tuesday for topics related to Information Technology and Positive Train Control. We welcome submissions in these topic areas.

Papers should provide information on recent, significant and substantive achievements and results, and should be sufficiently focused on a particular subject or a narrowly defined group of related subjects. Papers that are predominantly commercial in nature, or obvious sales presentations, will be declined.

Papers may be accepted for publication and not presentation at the discretion of the Program Chair. All Papers accepted for presentation and as alternates will be published (see guidelines and release information on Submittal Form).

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUBMITTING A PAPER OR PRESENTATION

Complete the online Submittal Form and submit an Abstract of your Paper (no more than 250 words) and a short Biographical Sketch via the Presenters’ section of the AREMA website by December 15, 2011. The Abstract should be a concise synopsis of the Paper and should be able to serve effectively as a screening mechanism for reviewers.

Final draft copies of accepted Papers are due at AREMA no later than June 8, 2012 and must be submitted electronically, via the AREMA website in the following format:

• Electronic copy, double spaced, Times New Roman or Arial font no smaller than 10 pt.
• Format must be MS Word 2000 or later, or Adobe PDF. No other formats will be accepted.
• Graphics incorporated into the Paper must be in .JPG, or .TIF format.
• All authors and co-authors must be identified.
• No changes will be permitted in title or copy after the June 15 submission deadline.

For Electronic Submission of Abstracts, Papers and PowerPoint Presentations, go to www.arema.org, go to “Meetings” (on the left menu bar). Click on “Presenters” and follow the instructions.

Please Note:  PowerPoint presentations and speeches are NOT acceptable as submitted Papers. PowerPoint slides are used to enhance the presentation of your Paper. However, a full text-based Paper will be required for Publication. The requirement for a formal Paper may be waived, at the discretion of the Program Committee, for presenters proposing presentations in the Maintenance Functional Group area. Presenters are required to register for the AREMA Annual Conference. A reduced “Presenter Rate” is available. The AREMA 2012 Manuscript and Presentation Guides are available at www.arema.org.

Once an abstract is accepted for publication and presentation, the final Paper and PowerPoint presentation will be reviewed by the appropriate Conference Program Committee. If the final Paper and/or PowerPoint presentation is not deemed appropriate for presentation by this Committee, or if submission deadlines are not met, AREMA reserves the right to remove the Presentation and/or Paper from the Conference Program and any AREMA publications. All decisions are made by AREMA and are considered final. Authors will be notified of any such decisions no later than July 31, 2012.

IMPORTANT DATES