WHY? 8th World Congress on High Speed Rail at PHILADELPHIA?

WHY? Why would the 8th World Congress on High Speed Rail be held in Philadelphia? It would seem that the incentive to meet in the USA is to demonstrate the complexity of operations inherent to the Northeast Corridor and the Keystone Corridor East owned by Amtrak.

There is nothing like the Northeast Corridor and the Keystone Corridor East in the world. The mixture of freight operations by private railroad companies, multiple transit state transit operations and Amtrak higher speed and high speed passenger operations - there's nothing like it anywhere. There are railroad systems operating with similar speed passenger trains with greater densities elsewhere. There are none with the variation in speeds and with multiple train operating organizations as there is in the USA.

There is nothing in the USA that represents creative American application of science, technology, engineering and mathematics to modern day higher speed railroad design and engineering. Amtrak relies upon foreign design and engineering for its higher speed electric locomotives and for its high speed equipment. American adaptation and application in operations is what might attract a foreign participant to attend other than the importance of maintaining international contacts in the high speed rail industry.