On October 2 Long Island Rail Road President Patrick Nowakowski met with the Long Island Rail Road Commuter Council (LIRRCC) for the first time since assuming the Rail Road presidency in May of this year. Mr. Nowakowski shared with the LIRRCC his background and gave a short presentation on the MTA’s proposed 2015-2019 Capital Program, before addressing a number of questions posed to him. In response to Chair Mark Epstein’s questions about his priorities in leading the LIRR, President Nowakowski identified the safety of employees, customers, and the communities in which the LIRR operates as his primary aim, followed by customer service. He noted that the LIRR President’s role is to create a vision that is fulfilled through decisions made by others in the organization.
Other questions addressed to President Nowakowski focused on communication between the LIRR and its riders, the collection of tickets and the issue of fare evasion, operational statistics and goals, accessibility of the system to persons with disabilities, protection of the right of way, maintaining an effective LIRR workforce, upcoming rolling stock orders, and additional track improvements to increase system capacity.