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The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and International Union of Railways (UIC) are calling last week’s high-speed rail (HSR) practicums a success, with a total of 500 people attending the three seminars.

The “International Practicum on Implementing High-Speed Rail in the United States” — held Feb. 8-9 in Washington, D.C., Feb. 9-11 in Chicago and Feb. 11-13 in Los Angeles — featured HSR experts from France, Germany, Japan, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. They shared their experience and knowledge to provide U.S. decision makers with information necessary to implement HSR.

Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo and Deputy Administrator Karen Rae were keynote speakers at the workshops.

Each seminar was “the equivalent of a graduate-level course in high-speed rail,” said APTA President William Millar in a prepared statement.

The practicums were the first set of seminars developed under a new partnership between APTA and UIC. The organizations recently signed a memorandum of understanding to share information, and cover the various technical, financial and managerial aspects of planning, building and operating HSR systems.

“UIC is proud to bring all its experience to help the American transportation leaders make the right choices as soon as possible, so that America can join the international high-speed rail community,” said UIC Director General Jean-Pierre Loubinoux in a prepared statement.

For a wrap-up of the APTA/UIC seminar held in Chicago — as well as information on recent grant awards, a state-by-state listing of HSR plans and HSR-related news — subscribe to Progressive Railroading’s HSRupdates.com.