Dr. Forbes is a well known railcar expert within the North American rail industry for his innovations as well as his solutions. Jim Forbes is the chief designer at National Steel Car Limited, one of North America’s largest manufacturers of railroad freight cars.

He is an inventor or co-inventor in 67 issued US patents as well as several pending patent applications and corresponding Canadian patents, and a number of foreign applications and patents. This substantial body of innovative work represents advances in three major areas of mechanical engineering work in the railroad industry. These relate to the development of a new rail road car truck that holds out significant promise for substantial fuel savings, reduction in wheel wear, reduction in derailments, and reduction in maintenance of way expenses.

A major theme of Engineer Forbes’ work is to obtain efficiencies in design by tailoring railroad car designs more closely to the specialized needs of the customers. Moreover, Jim plays a major role in mentoring junior engineers through discussions of technical, legal and ethical engineering matters, and participation on community projects. Additionally, he has been an active member of a number of Task Force Teams under Association of American Railroad (AAR) – Equipment Engineering Committees (EEC). At present he is one of the key members of the Fatigue Task Force.