2012 Railroader of the Year: The Video

Kansas City Southern President and Chief Executive Officer David L. Starling, Railway Age’s 2012 Railroader of the Year, talks about his career path, his international experience, and KCS’s recent achievements and growth projections in a video interview with Editor-in-Chief William C. Vantuono.

Starling describes his start in the rail industry as an extra-board clerk telegrapher on the Frisco, his years as a dispatcher, and his transition into the operating ranks, where he formed relationships with railroaders who played an integral role in shaping his career—people like Hunter Harrison and Mike Haverty. He also talks about working in such locations as Hong Kong, Panama, and Mexico, where he gained experience in international container shipping. It’s a remarkable story of a remarkable man who traces his roots to “a small town in Arkansas, a crew change point on the Rock Island between Little Rock and Hartshorne, Oklahoma.”