Rising Stars 2026: Tom Roadcap

Tom Roadcap, 31 
Senior engineer, design and construction,
AECOM

Editor’s note: Early this year, Tom Roadcap was nominated as a 2026 Rising Star by officials at Brightline West, where he served as senior design construction engineer. In May, Progressive Railroading selected Roadcap as a 2026 Rising Star based on those nominations. In June, Roadcap accepted a position with AECOM, where he’ll work as a member of the program management team responsible for helping the California High-Speed Rail Authority manage track construction and design and construction of high-speed systems.

Nominator’s quote: “Tom is a personable leader who is well ahead of his years in terms of experience, and has terrific initiative and desire to expand his knowledge and curiosity to always learn more. ... His passion for his profession, and for understanding high-speed rail in particular, has been his motivation for traveling on his own time to see many of the great high- speed rail systems around the world.” — Adrian Share, Brightline West.

Education: Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in civil and environmental engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Fullbright scholarship to Technical University of Munich (Germany) to do railroad track research and design improvements to the AREMA Manual for Railroad Engineering Chapter 30 (Ties). Internships with CN and Union Pacific Railroad. Accepted to MBA program, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, to matriculate January 2027.

Job responsibilities: I was previously senior engineer, design and construction at Brightline West, where I was responsible for managing the design of railway track and overhead electrification and various other project elements. I was also involved in FRA certification efforts and responsible for tracking the project environmental footprint for regulatory compliance. I am currently transitioning into a new role with AECOM working on the program management team for California high-speed rail. I will be responsible for helping the California High-Speed Rail Authority manage track construction, design and construction of high-speed systems.

What was your first job and what did you learn from it?
Though not technically my first job, I will never forget my first week as a summer intern in the track department at CN, near Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. I had taken courses in railway engineering at college, tested track components in the laboratory and read up on railroading, so I thought I knew what I was doing. It only took a day or two in the field with the section crew to realize how little I really knew! One thing I have learned in my career is to approach every new challenge with humility and to always be on the lookout for new opportunities to learn something. A strong curiosity and desire to learn things will take you far! My first actual job was at RailTEC at the University of Illinois — see below.

What sparked your interest in the rail industry? What told you it could be a place for you to thrive?
I started college with no major selected, thinking I would study music or something in the liberal arts. [But] when I started college, I needed a job and RailTEC was hiring part-time student workers. I worked there for a year, realized the rail industry was really interesting, and transferred into the civil engineering major that summer after freshman year. I am particularly thankful for the encouragement and guidance I have received over the years from Chris Barkan and Riley Edwards at RailTEC; they really introduced me to the rail industry and helped me thrive in it.

What’s one of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned in your career?
We hear often that intercity passenger rail cannot be profitable or that the golden age of passenger rail has passed. After working on the construction of the Brightline Florida project and then watching its subsequent success, I have learned that the latent opportunity for a passenger rail renaissance in the U.S. is huge. Brightline Florida was an idea 10 years ago and today is carrying 3 million passengers a year (in one of America’s most car-centric states) and is the second busiest line in the U.S. after the Northeast Corridor. Reception from customers has been incredibly positive. Americans want the option of high-quality passenger rail and will ride trains, given the option. We have also learned from Brightline Florida the challenges that a private debt-financed project faces and that there is a need for better financing alternatives for new passenger rail projects.

What are your passions outside of work?
Oh, there are so many! I love music and play the drums in jazz and church bands when I have the opportunity. I am always trying to learn something new, and for the past few years have been studying Japanese with a tutor. Faith is also important to me and when in Florida, I even had the chance to lead a small church group.

I love to travel (a hobby that goes well with railroading); I have been to each of the 50 states and am working on visiting all 63 National Parks now (nine left to go). I have been to over 60 countries and am considering trying to go to all of them in my lifetime.

Finally, I love to hike and camp. In 2020, I volunteered in Sequoia National Park and have always enjoyed spending time in nature. My wife and I live in Las Vegas at the moment and are frequently out at Death Valley, Red Rock, Mount Charleston, Lake Mead, Zion or elsewhere on the weekends.

How do you plan to keep making an impact in your corner of the industry?
My long-term goal is to lead the development of new passenger rail projects. There are multiple markets across the U.S. where I believe high-speed and/or high-frequency passenger rail could thrive and be profitable — think, for example, of major city pairs that already have significant traffic between them, such as Atlanta to Charlotte, the Texas Triangle or Los Angeles to Phoenix. There is huge opportunity here and I hope someday to help make these projects happen.

What's the biggest challenge confronting the rail industry today?
The biggest challenge both freight and passenger rail in the U.S. face is that they have to compete in an unfair environment. Railroads finance, own and maintain their own infrastructure (and insure it, and pay property taxes on it, etc.), at tremendous expense. Truckers and drivers, meanwhile, use government-owned and subsidized highways for which they do not pay the full cost. The fact that the rail industry endures in the face of this structural disadvantage is a testament to the inherent efficiency and appeal of rail transportation. But we must recognize that this structural disadvantage is disincentivizing investment in the development of more new passenger rail projects and suppressing the growth of freight traffic. I am not sure there is an easy or politically palatable way out of this problem, but I think solving it would allow the rail industry to truly flourish and thereby strengthen the U.S. economy, improve the environment and increase safety.