About Us - Purpose and History

The Transportation Research Forum (TRF) is an independent organization of transportation professionals. Its purpose is to provide an impartial meeting ground for carriers, shippers, government officials, consultants, university researchers, suppliers, and others seeking an exchange of information and ideas related to both passenger and freight transportation.

The Forum provides pertinent and timely information to those who conduct research and those who use and benefit from research. The exchange of information and ideas is accomplished through international, national, and local TRF meetings and by publication of professional papers related to numerous transportation topics.

The TRF encompasses all modes of transport and the entire range of disciplines relevant to transportation, including:

• Economics
• Marketing and Pricing
• Financial Controls and Analysis
• Labor and Employee Relations
• Carrier Management
• Organization and Planning
• Technology and Engineering
• Urban Transportation and Planning
• Governmental Policy
• Equipment Supply
• Regulation
• Safety
• Environment and Energy
• Intermodal Transportation
• Transportation and Supply Chain Management

A small group of transportation researchers in New York started the Transportation Research Forum in March 1958. Monthly luncheon meetings were established at that time and still continue. The first organizing meeting of the American Transportation Research Forum was held in St. Louis, Missouri in December 1960. The New York Transportation Research Forum sponsored the meeting and became the founding chapter of the ATRF. The Lake Erie, Washington D.C., and Chicago chapters were organized soon after and were later joined by chapters in other cities around the U.S. The TRF currently has about 400 members. « less