MTA New York City Transit restructures Department of Subways

Written by jrood

MTA New York City Transit President Thomas F. Prendergast said the agency has made the first in a series of sweeping structural changes to the Department of Subways, which provides service to more than five million average daily riders. The move is intended to make certain that all critical maintenance functions are fully and completely performed in the areas of power, track, signals, communications and subway cars while ensuring that the Department of Subways focuses strongly on reaching the goals committed to by MTA Chairman Jay H. Walder in his 100 Day Report, "Making Every Dollar Count."

"Meeting and even
exceeding the goals Chairman Walder has set forth will require Subways to make
significant improvements in the areas of customer information, new fare
technology implementation, cleaner and better maintained subway stations and
improved service change information," said Prendergast. "To do that,
during these times of severe financial constraint, we must restructure the way
we do business and I’ve asked two of the best to lead that change."

Taking over the helm of
Sr. Vice President for Subways will be Carmen Bianco, a veteran transit
executive who served as Assistant Vice President for System Safety at NYC
Transit between 1991 and 1995. Bianco has also held similar senior level safety
positions at Amtrak and New Jersey Transit. He also served as the Acting Vice
President of Operations at Amtrak.

"In these difficult
and challenging times, Carmen has the skills to lead the Department of Subways
in meeting all of its ongoing responsibilities and achieve its strategic
goals," said Prendergast. "I have every confidence that Carmen will
do so with a clear understanding of the importance associated with
incorporating the necessary cultural changes that are needed as we move
forward."

Steven A. Feil will
assume the newly created role of Vice President and Chief Maintenance Officer
in the restructured Department of Subways. Feil, who has been Sr. V.P. of
Subways since 2007, has vast experience and knowledge in the many areas of
maintenance and technical functions related to rail systems. "Steve is a
respected transit executive who has worked in many of these areas himself and
has done so from the entry level up to the highest levels of senior
management," said Prendergast. "He also has a keen appreciation for
the need to embrace and utilize new technology with direct experience in its
implementation at some of the older, more established agencies like Amtrak and
NYCT."

With this change in
structure, maintenance resources will be centralized, absorbed from the current
decentralized Group & Line General Manager structure, which does not
provide for the most efficient and effective use of those limited resources.
The Line General Manager program will remain, but with a more focused role on
transportation and customer service.

Both Steve and Carmen will
assume their new roles on March 1, 2010

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