Make a change at the top of the Long Island Rail Road

A t a meeting of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Long Island Rail Road committee on Feb. 20, LIRR President Patrick Nowakowski took full blame for the railroad’s problems.

“This is about me,” he said. “This is my responsibility. It has been my responsibility for going on four years.”

The question for the MTA’s leadership is whether after four years, Nowakowski deserves any more time to get the job done. On behalf of LIRR riders, we made that decision more than a month ago, when we first said it was time for him to go.

The need for a change at the top of the LIRR was made even more clear by Friday’s service meltdown during a nor’easter, the latest in a series of bad days for the rail line, where equipment failures and communications breakdowns have become the norm.

On Monday, MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota and MTA Managing Director Ronnie Hakim were silent on Nowakowski, and that spoke volumes. If he is not replaced, they must defend his tenure and explain to the public why he remains on the job.

“We need to do more,” Nowakowski said last month.

That’s an understatement.

It’s not an easy job. The more than 700 miles of track on the country’s busiest commuter railroad cannot be protected from every weakened tree or utility pole. Weather happens, cars stall on the tracks, and machinery fails. Most of Nowakowski’s riders understand that.

What they can no longer accept is Nowakowski’s inability to take control of the LIRR’s disorganized culture. Friday’s storm showed the consequences of his failure to develop a comprehensive plan that holds individuals responsible for performance. He still hasn’t made clear to his organization that the customer is at the center of its mission.

Friday’s nor’easter hit hard. Service was slowed or suspended across Nassau County, and the delays worsened after a PSEG pole fell across the Main Line tracks during the evening rush. The problem was exacerbated by the railroad’s insufficient response. Top LIRR managers should have been sent out of their offices and onto the platforms to help control the crowds and provide information. The failure to coordinate and communicate information about how soon lines could be put back in service, and what alternative routes riders should consider, created hours of chaos.

The events followed the horrific month of January, which saw the LIRR’s worst on-time performance in 22 years, accompanied by problems with equipment, maintenance and communication. In February, Nowakowski outlined a performance improvement plan that seemed to focus on those concerns. But he hasn’t released a written plan, metrics to evaluate success, a timeline for implementation or a budget to show what it would cost. MTA officials have said they hope to have specific plans in writing “shortly.” That’s not good enough.

Indeed, Friday’s insane commute laid bare all of the LIRR’s troubles in one very bad night. At this point, there’s little assurance the LIRR under the same leadership will be able to fulfill its promise to “do more.”

It’s time for a new conductor at the LIRR. Get the trains moving, or get out of the way.