Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chief Development Officer Janno Lieber today announced that he had appointed Arthur R. “Rob” Troup as Senior Program Executive of East Side Access, the project’s top ranking official.

 

Troup is the Deputy General Manager for the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, and served in that same role for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority from 2010 to 2015. At both agencies he was responsible for executing multi-billion dollar five year capital budgets while maintaining day-to-day operations, safety and efficiency. He represented WMATA on Phase I of the Washington Metro’s Silver Line extension and he facilitated the initial testing and delivery of the Washington Metro’s latest and most modern class of rail cars.

 

Troup comes to East Side Access already familiar with the LIRR, and the New York area. At Amtrak’s New York division from 1979 to 1995, he was Amtrak’s system manager for multiple projects, including: Secaucus Junction station work and wayside reconfiguration, the Empire Connection that brought Amtrak’s Upstate New York services to Penn Station, North River and East River tunnel systems rehabilitation and Penn Station signal upgrades. As assistant vice president at SYSTRA, Inc., Troup was responsible for managing the review of East Side Access-related signal design and contractor specifications for Harold Interlocking.

 

‎"East Side Access is making dramatic progress and Rob has what it takes to get it to the finish line on time in 2022,” Lieber said. "With more than 40 years of experience in public transportation — including a lot of construction in densely populated urban environments — he knows what it takes to get a complex project like this built.”

 

“Completing East Side Access is a key priority for the MTA and a necessary precondition for a number of other critical regional investments,” Troup said. “This project is massive and this challenge is exciting. I look forward to bringing this project to completion.”

 

Rob has also done international consulting work in Europe and Africa developing system networks for transit, commuter and freight rail systems. Troup holds the certification of Engineering Technician from the United Kingdom Engineering Council.

 

Troup will lead a newly reinvigorated and reorganized project. Earlier this year, Lieber confirmed the 2022 completion date of East Side Access and announced a series of management changes that will ensure the timely completion of this transformational project.  These include a new priority-based program schedule methodology, the integration of a specialized team to speed up preparations for opening day service and a new streamlined change order process, which could be implemented on other MTA megaprojects as part of proposed cost saving and cost containment initiatives.

 

Troup succeeds William Goodrich, who has led East Side Access since 2014 and is retiring after a distinguished 40-year career in civil engineering and project management, having also played leadership roles on historic projects like Boston’s Central Artery/Tunnel and the Second Avenue Subway, Phase 1. “Bill led both the Second Avenue Subway project – New York City’s biggest expansion of the subway system in 50 years – as well as East Side Access,” Lieber said. “We have all learned from Bill, and value the incredible commitment and professionalism he has modeled for all of us at the MTA.”