ROBERT E. BURKHARDT, P.E., M.I.R.S.E. Vice-President Engineering
Robert E. Burkhardt joined Rio Grande Pacific Technology, Inc., (RIOTECH) in November 2018. Rob, a professionally licensed electrical engineer in eleven states, is a senior and principal lead engineer and project manager in freight, commuter, and light rail signal systems design. He serves as manager of the Louisville Kentucky based RIOTECH office. Rob leads an engineering team competent in all the major wayside and crossing signal processor platforms including those produced by Alstom/Grain Valley, Alstom/Rochester, Hitachi/Ansaldo, and Siemens, dispatch hosting, network design, and rail communications.
Rob, a third-generation railroader, has extensive experience in the rail industry including seventeen years with CSX Transportation in the signal, communications and electrical departments, and fifteen years as president and founder of Innovative Solutions in Signaling, a signal design and consulting company based in Louisville, Kentucky.
A graduate of the Indianapolis campus of Purdue University, he is a member of AREMA committees 37, Signal Systems, and 39, Positive Train Control. Additionally, Rob is active in the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE) holding positions on both the North American Chapter Council and the International Council and is a credited author / editor of the IRSE’s manual on ‘North American Railway Signaling’.
Career milestones include leading the engineering team that gained safety acceptance for the use of Harmon’s VHLC and HXP-3 in the United Kingdom, resignaling DART’s Dallas to Fort Worth Commuter Line, developing the signaling system for LACMTA’s Gold Line Light Rail, gaining FRA support for Austin’s Capital Metro Commuter Rail to go to revenue service, signaling Houston’s Light Rail Extensions, and leading the teams designing the signaling systems for Sound Transit’s Northgate, East Link and Lynnwood Extensions.