A Conversation with the New Metro North President

Howard R. Permut

By JOHN JORDAN

Howard R. Permut took over as president of Metro North Railroad on July 15, succeeding Peter A. Cannito who held the post since June 1999. Mr. Permut’s challenges include rising demand for ridership in both New York and Connecticut, strained revenues to meet commuter demand and the need to repair and improve its infrastructure.

Prior to taking on his new role, CONSTRUCTION NEWS spoke with Mr. Permut, who until recently was Metro North’s Vice President of Planning, Development and Procurement, to discuss his plans for the railroad in 2008 and beyond.

CN: Do you have any initial goals at Metro North that you would like to get started on right away?

HP: The initial goal and the most important one is to maintain the high quality of service, in terms of customer service, in terms of safety, in terms of increasing our ridership—the continuation on a very positive trend. That’s our fundamental goal. Looking forward, the goal is to expand upon that and make improvements where we can. There are a variety of areas that we are looking at right now to see what initiatives can we implement to improve the service we are delivering in terms of quality, quantity and efficiency.

CN: The railroad has spent considerable capital improving its railroad stations and improvements to the Croton Harmon Yard. They are ongoing. Are there any major capital projects in the pipeline the construction industry can expect in the next few years?

HP: As of right now Metro North and the whole MTA has a capital program that is funded through the end of 2009. Most of that program has been awarded, it includes the Croton-Harmon Shop, all the station work on the Hudson line, and it includes new cars on the New Haven line. We still have a small amount of work that is going to go out on the street. The biggest projects that come to mind are the improvements to the New Haven line stations in New York State, the power improvements in New York State—those are the biggest contracts yet to be awarded.

CN: What is the cost of those projects?

HP: I think they are in the range of approximately $30 million to $50 million.

CN: With gas prices rising steadily and now over $4 a gallon, have you seen an increase in ridership since gas prices have escalated?

HP: Ridership has been increasing over the last couple of years between four percent to five percent per year, which is a very healthy growth rate. When we look at it we attribute it to, first and foremost, good service—that is most important—and secondly that we have expanded service in a host of ways to make it easier for people to get to and from the train stations. I think gas prices have had an effect, but I don’t believe that alone is the driving force behind our ridership (growth). We are watching the layoffs in the financial community and what the impacts that will have on our commutation ridership.

CN: Have you seen any impact from the Wall Street layoffs?

HP: No. We are now looking at the May numbers, which we will know in the next week or so.

CN: But you haven’t seen a considerable spike in ridership due to rising gas prices?

HP: No, not through April. We might see something in May because that was when the real spikes hit. Fundamentally, Metro North is truly the cheapest, most efficient way for people to get to the city and this was before gas prices went up, so this is just increasing our advantage.

CN: Are you still seeing an increase in reverse commutation or has that begun to level off?

HP: This year that has been increasing I think around four percent also. So that is continuing to grow.

CN: With the funds recently allocated for a study for a one-seat ride from Stewart International Airport in Newburgh to Manhattan via a new trans-Hudson tunnel in New Jersey, is it likely or even possible that commuter rail in Tarrytown or White Plains will be considered as part of the replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge?

HP: We should separate those two out. The Stewart Airport study is looking at rail improvements, an extension to Stewart and improving to the Port Jervis line. That will work with the new ARC (Access to the Region’s Core project, which is the New Jersey tunnel, that would work with the (new) Tappan Zee project or it would work with the current system. It fits with all three. With the Tappan Zee, NYSDOT (New York State Department of Transportation) has the lead in the study and they will be coming forward with a recommendation within the next month or so.

CN: If a new bridge were built is Metro North in favor of adding stations on either side of the bridge and if so, where?

HP: The alternatives include new stations in Rockland County and if the alternative included rail across the Hudson there would be new stations across the corridor and along the corridor as well. The identification of the stations (location) will come out of the EIS process. But the intent would be to have new stations on both sides of the river.

CN: You have been with Metro North for some time and now coming on board as its president, what do you see are the rail line’s biggest challenges going forward?

HP: I think the challenges are to maintain the good service we are providing in the face of financial issues. As I think you know with the economy being so uncertain and issues of tax receipts for the MTA, we face a pretty tough financial circumstance. We face a critical need to get the next capital program approved and that is going to require significant financial resources. Another big challenge is the need to maintain the high quality of human resources. Metro North, like most agencies in the transit business, has a large number of people getting ready to retire, and they have to bring in good replacements. A lot of good talent is walking out the door. The other challenge is if you really think about it we are trying to make improvements to a system where parts of it were laid out in 1850 and you are trying to add on new technology, new communications to certain places where it is an old infrastructure.

This is part of the July 1, 2008 online edition of Construction News.

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