Silverman, Ira, 1946-

Dates

• Existence: 1946    

Biography

Ira Silverman is a commuter railroad executive and railroad enthusiast. He was born October 1, 1946 in New York City. Mr. Silverman received his B.S. in Economics at New York University (1964-1968) and completed course work for a M.S. at the Transportation Center at Northwestern University (1968-1970). His professional career began at the Illinois Central Railroad (1970-1975), where he worked as a Financial Analyst and Assistant to the Senior Vice President, Operations. He continued as Manager, Operations Planning and Equipment, Route Manager Eastern Routes and Director, Route Marketing at Amtrak (1975-1995). In 1995 Mr. Silverman became the Chief Transportation Officer and Manager Transit Strategy at Commuter Rail, MARC, the Maryland Area Regional Commuter, a regional rail system administered by the Maryland Transit Administration.

Mr. Silverman began frequent train travel in his native New York City as a high school student. His interest in and collection of railroad menus began while he was a student at Northwestern University in 1968. He, along with other students, would travel outside Chicago to have dinner on the returning evening train, on railroads as diverse as the Burlington, Milwaukee, Rock Island, GM&O, Santa Fe and Illinois Central. His collection of dining car menus began with these trips. Mr. Silverman went on to ride trains in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and all of Western Europe. Mr. Silverman is a resident of Rockville, Maryland.

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