We bring you this listing of free and low cost online rail and transport webinars, as well as interesting conferences, semi-regularly updated from around the world. Updated 21 February 2026.
● The Mineta Transportation Institute is hosting the webinar Beyond the Bullet Train: Lessons from Japan’s Shinkansen. This webinar peels back the myth to explore the real decisions, principles, & design thinking behind Japan’s high-speed rail success - and what they mean for North America. Drawing on first-hand experience and professional practice in Japan, the speakers will examine the Shinkansen as an integrated system operating across multiple scales: train design and operations, station planning and passenger flow, and city-building and tourism strategy. The event will take place Tuesday March 3, 2026 at 5pm Eastern (10pm GMT).
● The online-only 24 hour conference Bridging Transportation Researchers is the annual virtual meeting of the international travel behaviour researchers community. Transport researchers from diverse disciplines present and discuss topics and trends on international travel. The event will take place Wednesday & Thursday August 12 & 13, 2026.
Do double check all times when registering, as they are sometimes hosted in different countries and time zones, what with different, chaotic Daylight Savings regimes, or even better, no Daylight Savings at all.
North American In Person Events
● The International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA) will be hosting its World Tunneling Congress will take place 15-21 May 2026 in Montréal, Canada.
● The Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE)'s International Convention took place 4-5 December 2025 in Toronto, Canada. [LR is preparing an article on the State of the Art Signalling and future trends.]
European & Global Conferences
● The International Conference On Electric Airships will be a three day event with speakers presenting on modern airship technical, environmental, and application aspects. Topics include drones, high altitude, surveillance, cargo, and passenger airships. The conference took place at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität in Nürnberg, Germany from 24 to 26 September 2025. [LR is preparing an article on the State of the Art of modern airship development and future trends.]
● The Transit Mapping Symposium two day event Hubs and Us took place in Hong Kong 6-7 November 2025. Contact the organiser for more information. [LR will feature links to videos from this symposium on Friday and Monday Reads.]
On Demand Events
● Magazine New Civil Engineer is presenting its talk How subterranean 3D modelling in road and rail differs from mining as an on demand webinar. The expert panelists explored how leading projects are already harnessing 3D subsurface modelling to transform the way road and rail infrastructure is planned and delivered. This includes: • What are the present and future capabilities of this kind of technology? • Can ever more complex projects continue using traditional PDF-based data? • How can project teams adapt to these new technological expectations?
● Hybrid Air Vehicles (ITDP) produced a webinar on How hybrid airship could transform maritime defence operations – A closer look at Airlander. Capt Ben Cohen, US Marines Corps and Gary Waterfall, HAV advisor, and former RAF Air Vice Marshal, discussed the role hybrid aircraft, like Airlander, can play in maritime operations such as logistics and communications in contested environments.
● The High Speed Rail Alliance is hosting a webinar Crossrail Chicago: The Foundation for a Modern Travel Network. This proposal aims to connect and upgrade existing Metra lines to create an electrified, passenger-dedicated mainline through the city. This link would provide intercity train service to key locations in downtown, as well as O’Hare International Airport. CrossRail Chicago would span the metro area with high-capacity, passenger-focused rail lines, and form the core of a Midwest high-speed rail network.
● The Eno Center for Transportation has recorded its webinar Trains, Buses, People: An Opinionated Atlas of US and Canadian Transit. Christof Spieler, Senior Lecturer, Rice University recently released the second edition of his wildly popular book Trains, Buses, People, which now covers eight Canadian cities & two new US cities. In this webinar he discusses the evolving conversation around transit in the past three years since the book originally published, plus updates around fare policies, wayfinding, transit governance structures, customer experience, and how to create inclusive transit systems that work for all riders.
● The Global Railway Review presents a free webinar on A strategic approach to deliver rail decarbonisation, featuring speakers from the Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education (BCRRE) and the Railway Industry Association (RIA).
● The Victoria Society presents an illustrated virtual lecture led by author and historian Dr Steven Brindle - who will present an in-depth exploration of Queen Victoria's use of the railways. After taking her first railway journey in June 1842, Steven will discuss how Queen Victoria got to and from Windsor, Osborne and Balmoral, some of the special stations, waiting rooms and trains that were built for her, and her longer continental rail journeys. Whilst the live lecture has passed, you can still view the recording for £5.
Found an event you'd like to share? Email Mike at LondonReconnections.com.
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