Last year, Metro-North experienced a series of problems, from two trains colliding to the fatal derailment at Spuyten Duyvil. Now, its president will be resigning.
According to the NY Times, Howard Permut "announced his retirement to staff members at a meeting late Monday afternoon, a transit official said. The official said that Mr. Permut is expected to be replaced by Joseph Giulietti, the executive director of the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, and that Mr. Permut intends to stay until the end of January to help with the transition."
Besides the May collision in Connecticut and deadly December derailment in the Bronx, a worker was killed and a freight train derailed, prompting federal officials to criticize the agency. The Post reports, "Sources said Permut — who has been president since 2008 — has decided to leave because of the emotional toll the year has taken on him. He declined to comment when reached at his home."
Jim Cameron, a commuter-rail advocate and rider, said, "In his long tenure at the railroad, he deserves a lot of credit for many accomplishments, including the replacement of our aging fleet of rail cars with the new M8 cars. But as president, he is also ultimately responsible for what has gone so terribly wrong." Cameron said of Giuleitti, "As a former employee of Metro-North, I think he understands the corporate culture, the challenges that he’s going to face with an aging infrastructure."
