State Senate confirms Janno Lieber as MTA chairman of nation's largest public transportation system

The MTA has a new permanent leader, as the New York State Senate on Thursday confirmed Janno Lieber as the chairman and chief executive officer of the nation's largest public transportation system.

By a vote of 56-7, the Senate approved Lieber, who had been serving as acting chairman and chief executive officer of the MTA since July. He had been nominated by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Gov. Kathy Hochul again nominated him to the position earlier this month.

Lieber, 60, joined the MTA in 2018 as its top infrastructure executive. Before coming to the MTA, he oversaw the redevelopment of the World Trade Center.

Sen. Tim Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, called Lieber "exceptional in the truest sense of the word" and said he was "thrilled that we have such an individual with a great history of commitment" at the helm of the MTA.

Speaking to lawmakers about his Long Island transit priorities during his confirmation hearing Wednesday, Lieber, of Brooklyn, called himself a "big user and big enthusiast" of the LIRR and said he was particularly passionate about overhauling "the hovel, the dungeon, the hell house" that is Penn Station.

"We’ve got to change it. It’s outrageous that … New York’s principal train station, which is the largest mass transit train facility in North America, is what it is," said Lieber, who helped win Hochul’s support for a planned $6 billion redevelopment of Penn Station.

Lieber also said that he believes 2022 is a "transformative year for the Long Island Rail Road," as both the LIRR’s $2.6 billion Third Track project, and the $11.2 billion East Side Access link to Grand Central Terminal are scheduled for completion in December.

"To have a brand new railroad terminal of the scale that hasn’t been opened in the United States since the early 1950s for Long Islanders in the center of the highest-valued business district in the United States is an unbelievable change," Lieber said. "We have to make it a success."

Kevin Law, the MTA board’s Suffolk representative, added: "Janno understands our region and the LIRR very well and will be a terrific leader of the MTA".

At the same time, as the Senate was considering his appointment, Lieber appeared with Hochul in Brooklyn to announce a milestone in the agency’s newest megaproject, the proposed Interborough Express rail system connecting Bay Ridge, Brooklyn to Astoria, Queens.

Hochul and Lieber said a preliminary study of the project launched in 2020 is now complete, and has confirmed the feasibility of operating a new transit system along a 14-mile stretch of LIRR track that is now only used by freight trains. The next step, Lieber and Hochul said, was to begin "community engagement" efforts and a formal environmental review that would determine the best mode of transport along the line: rapid transit buses, light rail trains, or a commuter rail system, similar to the LIRR.

Hochul said the line would connect to 17 subway lines and to the LIRR, and would take 40 minutes travel from end to end.

"If you can shave 30-40 minutes off somebody’s commute every day, that is a gift," Hochul said. "That’s what I want to do as we expand infrastructure ideas all over the state — to focus on how we can add time and quality to people’s lives."

Lieber would not speculate about the potential cost of the project, but said he expected it would take three to five years to build.

By Alfonso A. Castillo

alfonso.castillo@newsday.com@alfonsoreports

Alfonso Castillo has been reporting for Newsday since 1999 and covering the transportation beat since 2008. He grew up in the Bronx and Queens and now lives in Valley Stream with his wife and two sons.