Our team received Third Prize in the 2026 INFORMS Railway Applications Section (RAS) Problem Solving Competition for our work on integrated railroad blocking. The competition received 26 final reports and selected five finalist teams.

The competition focuses on the Railroad Blocking Problem for North American Class I Railroads. Finalists were evaluated on quantitative solution quality, methodological distinctiveness, rigor and reproducibility, and computational efficiency.

The final round took place at the INFORMS Annual Meeting in San Francisco on November 2, 2026.