New York City Transit head Andy Byford is breaking out the big guns to fix the subway system.
Byford has hired Pete Tomlin – whom the MTA calls an “internationally renowned signaling expert” – to head up the massive signaling work that has to be done as a part of the decade-long Fast Forward project.
Tomlin worked with Byford in Toronto and London and was also a top gun in the Hong Kong system, say MTA officials.
“I worked with Pete in both London and Toronto and I need him on my team to drive the Fast Forward resignaling program,” Byford said. “He has a stellar track record, he knows how to get contractors to deliver as part of a unified team, and I am delighted that I was able to persuade him to take up a real ‘New York challenge’.”
In London, Tomlin headed up the creation of the Jubilee Line Extension in the 1990s. In Hong Kong, he headed up the West Rail and Ma On Shan subway lines. He was with the Toronto Transit Commission, where Byford was his boss, from 2009 until this year.
Tomlin’s first project at the MTA will be to oversee the final adjustments to the new CBTC signal system that kicked in on the 7 line last month, said MTA officials.
Byford’s Fast Forward plan to fix the New York City subway system will cost about $37 billion and take 10 years.
Under the first five years of the plan, the agency hopes to replace dilapidated, decades-old signals on parts of the Lexington Avenue line, the A/C/E lines and the F and G lines.
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