Chief voice of MTA draws former voice for LIRR

The railroad was in his blood, and so he began working for the LIRR soon after graduating from Fordham in 1977. He was the voice of the Long Island Railroad for much of the 29 years he spent there, leaving in July 2006 to take a job with a Bohemia-based engineering firm.

So it was no surprise to see Brian Dolan at Monday's Long Island Association breakfast, at which Jay Walder, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was the guest speaker.

Dolan's grandfather, Andrew Dolan, was a motorman for the old Steinway Transit, driving a trolley across the Queensboro Bridge in the 1920s. Brian's father, James Dolan, was an electrician for the Pennsylvania Railroad before joining the LIRR in 1968.

Brian Dolan began at the LIRR as a ticket salesman in Hicksville. He joined the line's public relations department in 1980 and became director of media relations in 1987.

Dolan said he found Walder "frank." That, he said, is one characteristic the public appreciates. Dolan joined Systra Consulting Inc. of Little Falls, N.J., earlier this year. Railroading, he said, "was in the blood." On Long Island, the company is consulting on new signal systems.

Dolan remembers telling his wife after graduating from Fordham University that he would take the LIRR job "for only a year."

These Dolans are not related to Cablevision's Dolan family.