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3/24/2023
Former MTA New York City Transit President Andy Byford will join Amtrak next month as vice president of high-speed rail (HSR) development programs, according to an internal memo to Amtrak employees.
Byford will serve in a newly created role at Amtrak, where its executive team has begun working on delivering more HSR service across the railroad’s network, according to the memo from Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner.
"Now that the recently passed federal infrastructure bill has created resources to plan and develop such corridors, we want to work with a wide range of partners to advance high-speed rail. While HSR isn’t the right solution for every market, we are confident that there are more places in our country that can benefit from it,” Gardner wrote.
In his new role, Byford will develop and lead Amtrak’s long-term strategy for high-speed rail. He will report to Amtrak President Roger Harris.
Most recently, Byford served as commissioner of Transport for London, where he oversaw a multimodal network that serves 4 billion riders. He left NYCT in 2020 after two years on the job. For seven years, Byford was CEO of the Toronto Transit Commission, overseeing operations including the delivery of major capital projects and vehicle replacement.
In addition to Byford’s hiring, Gardner said Amtrak is making other organizational changes to strengthen the team that will develop the investment plan to advance the high-speed rail goals. Those changes include:
• Tracie Winbigler taking on an expanded role as executive VP of business transportation and chief financial officer. Going forward, she will dedicate more time to managing strategic business issues critical to Amtrak’s growth. That includes overseeing Amtrak’s continuous improvement program, as well as expansion of high-speed rail beyond the Northeast Corridor. She will continue to report to Gardner.• the promotion of Costin Corneanu to senior VP of finance. Reporting to Winbigler, he will help lead a broader portfolio of financial functions. In addition to continuing to lead the financial planning and analysis and the capital portfolio governance teams, his new direct reports will include Nathan Maciver, VP and treasurer, and Hiwot Abebe, now serving as acting lead for enterprise risk management and controls.