In 2024, the largest-ever Michigan State University Eli Broad College of Business Railway Management Certificate Program (RMCP) class assembled for the program’s 19th iteration. Some 30 people attended the four week-long residential modules starting on the MSU campus in April, in June in Washington D.C. and Newark, N.J. Pueblo, Colo. in September, and in October in Chicago. Space is filling up fast for the 20th iteration in 2025.
Nick Little has been involved with the program since its inception and took over as Director of Railway Education – Center for Railway Research & Education (CRRE) in 2014. Little is retiring Dec. 31 and will be succeeded by Valerii (Val) Kucherenko, who joined in August 2024 from CPKC (Canadian Pacific Kansas City). as Director, Railway Education. Kucherenko has extensive international intermodal experience and supply chain management and has worked in CPKC’s international intermodal and automotive marketing team. Little says he “is happy to leave the RMCP in such capable hands.”
The program covers freight and passenger rail and is designed to provide a broad experience of the diversity and complexity of today’s north American railroad scene. REGISTER HERE.
The 2025 RMCP program will commence on the MSU campus the week of April 28, 2025. That module focuses on Business Administration, Strategy, and Leadership. Several leading faculty from MSU will lead interactive sessions on topics for future leaders ranging from supply chain to change management and from marketing to negotiation skills. Additional optional classes on finance are also available to participants. A site visit to a local short line railroad is included to learn about their operations and organization and incorporates an opportunity to see transloading and automotive sector business streams in operation.
The second module, June 23-27, 2025, will be about rail industry structure, regulation and safety. Participants meet in Washington, D.C. and hear from AAR, ASLRRA, STB, NTSB, trade unions and other industry groups as well as FRA. The latter part of the week is based in Newark, N.J. giving participants opportunity to experience Amtrak and visit a working container terminal and other sites.
The third module, Sept. 8-12, 2025, will be based in Dallas/Fort Worth, Tex. and Pueblo, Colo. This module will focus on Railway Technology, Research and Development with opportunity to visit a Class I and a major freight car manufacturer. Most of the week will be spent in Pueblo with presentations and visits to the Transportation Technology Center Operated by ENSCO and MxV Rail, both of which have extensive laboratory and test track facilities as well as excellent staff who are working at the edge of adopting new technologies into the day-to-day life of modern, safe, efficient railroads.
The fourth and final module will run Nov. 3-7, 2025, commencing in Indianapolis with Amtrak major overhaul and repair/rebuild workshops and a visit to a rail manufacturer. The class will move on to Chicago to concentrate on railway operations with presentations on how to keep a complex network fluid and functioning as well as site visits to key installations performing essential roles in maintaining fluidity and interchange.
“Each RMCP iteration covers a similar breadth of topics, though individual elements and presentations change to maintain topicality and reflect current industry trends and opportunities,” Nick Little notes. “Participants are from many different backgrounds. The 2024 class included several short line and regional railroad participants, track maintenance companies, passenger operators including state and commuter services, and major industry rolling stock and locomotive manufacturers. This breadth of knowledge and experience supports the depth of learning by being able to add to presentations and class sessions.”
In addition to RMCP content design, development and delivery, the CRRE is working with other groups at MSU to research topics as diverse as non-destructive testing of steel rail integrity, alternative motive power and energy carriers and passenger mobility. The Center also undertook research to determine a viable zero-emissions passenger rail solution for services in California and North Carolina.
With Nick Little’s retirement, MSU/CRRE is poised to move to its next phase of development having appointed Hon. Ronald L. Batory (previously Conrail President and COO and Federal Railroad Administrator) as the Edward A. Burkhardt Chair in Railway Management and Executive Director.
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