Edward A. Burkhardt

Founder and Chairman, Rail World Inc.

Edward Burkhardt has been fascinated with trains since he was a young child. 
 
He took his first railroad job working the track gang on the Great Northern to earn money for college.  After graduating from Yale University with a B.S. in Industrial Administration and a graduate degree in Rail Transportation, Burkhardt ultimately became Chairman, President, and CEO of Wisconsin Central.  Using a rather simple formula of ‘good people, good equipment, and lots of service and attention to the customer’, Burkhardt built Wisconsin Central into the nation’s largest regional railroad at the time. 
 
Burkhardt later founded Rail World, Inc.  With operations in the United Kingdom, Poland, New Zealand, Ukraine, and the Baltics, his career literally spans the globe.  Click into the attached videos to hear this gracious and approachable railroad entrepreneur talk about his life in the global rail industry.