Former BNSF official picked to head new TxDOT rail division
(The following story by Gordon Dickson appeared on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram website on November 24, 2009.)
FORT WORHT, Texas A Southlake man has been picked to serve as director of the Texas Department of Transportations new rail division in hopes of making the state more competitive in the race for federal dollars for a high-speed rail system.
Bill Glavin, a former executive with the Burlington Northern Railroad, a predecessor to what is now BNSF, was selected to head the new agency by the Texas Department of Transportation.
"I look forward to helping Texas on the ground floor of high-speed rail," Glavin, a Tarrant County resident since 1991, said Monday in a phone interview.
BNSF, one of the nations largest freight railroads, is headquartered in Fort Worth.
His career highlights:
Began at Burlington Northern Railroad as a corporate management trainee and rose through the ranks to become system chief engineer and general manager of strategic network design. He was in charge of planning and budgets.
Also worked at North American RailNet and as a consultant with RVBA and Associates.
Bachelors degree in biology, 1975, Johns Hopkins University.
Bachelors degree in civil engineering, 1977, Michigan State University.
The federal government has made $8 billion in stimulus funding available to develop high-speed rail corridors. The Texas Department of Transportation requested $1.8 billion in Recovery Act funding to develop the states first such corridor, which would run through Fort Worth.
The federal government expects to make a decision in January, and Texas is on a short list of competitive states, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., said Monday while visiting Irving.
