LIRR's new chief wants to be more than 'acting'

Daily Point

Robert Free vows improvements, seeks permanent role

Just moments after Robert Free officially took on the title of acting president of the Long Island Rail Road, he told The Point he wanted more than the temporary title — and wants to become the railroad’s permanent president.

“I would not take this position as acting if I did not want it full time,” Free said in his first media interview since the handoff. “I’ve invested a lot of my life here … It would be a fantastic way to finish my career. It would be very fulfilling to do so.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is undertaking a search for a permanent president for the LIRR — a search MTA chief executive Janno Lieber said he hopes to complete by March. How much competition Free might have for the gig remains to be seen.

Free, who previously served as senior vice president of operations, is no stranger to the LIRR. The Port Jefferson Station resident has been with the railroad for 32 years, beginning as a station cleaner and working his way up. And, he noted, he’s also a customer, as he rides the railroad every weekday to his office in Jamaica.

When Free, who took on the acting president's reins Wednesday morning, rides the train, he pays attention. The “little things” matter, he noted, so he’ll look at seat cushions and the bathrooms and the lighting in every car he rides.

But Free, 53, isn’t waiting for the “acting” to be dropped from his title to take on the LIRR’s larger challenges. He ticks off the big issues he knows riders care about: safety, reliability, service, and what Free calls “the customer experience.” He promised to “methodically and strategically” make changes to schedules as needed. And while he is quick to point out the railroad’s recent successes, like the opening of Grand Central Madison and Third Track, he says he won’t rest on those laurels. He noted the need for state-of-good-repair efforts and attention to the railroad’s aging infrastructure, and recognized the desire for larger capital projects.

“I plan on being fully engaged on the 20-year needs assessment and the capital planning process and to be a strong advocate for Long Island,” Free said, adding that he’ll support and push for “anything that benefits Long Island that makes economic sense.”

Might that include the plan to move his home station — which he said is his favorite — to the Lawrence Aviation site, while building a new MTA train yard there? Free wouldn’t answer in specifics but promised he’d work with and meet with riders, constituents, elected officials and the current LIRR board members who represent Long Island on all of the railroad’s needs.

But for Free, who has long focused on operations, that’s also the biggest challenge.

“For me personally, I’ve been involved in the operations day to day, but it’s a new experience getting out with the local politicians and being the face of the railroad, which I fully embrace,” Free said.

That, Long Island elected officials say, was the missing ingredient when Cathy Rinaldi was managing both the LIRR and Metro-North Railroad. And Free said he understood the calls for separate leadership.

“I think Long Island itself expressed very passionately that it was important to have [its own president]. The Long Island Rail Road is an extremely complicated system … You want 24/7 attention to it,” he said.

Free noted that he already has solid connections with the LIRR workforce, since he came from their ranks, adding that he and LIRR union chief Anthony Simon were station cleaners together.

“I used to tell him I was a better cleaner than him,” Free joked.

Free, who has four children, noted that he sees his work as an important component of an effort “to build a better Long Island.”

Added Free: “The Long Island Rail Road is Long Island. And Long Island needs a strong Long Island Rail Road.”

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Tick, tock

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Final Point

Will three Suffolk legislators end up under water?

A new six-figure ad campaign released Wednesday is targeting three Suffolk County Republican legislative candidates for their refusal to push forward the Water Quality Restoration Act.

The New York League of Conservation Voters PAC and the New York State Laborers have teamed together to produce the campaign, which will include mailers and digital ads, just a few weeks before Election Day.

They’re spotlighting incumbents Dominick Thorne in the 7th District, Manuel Esteban in the 16th District, and Stephanie Bontempi in the 18th District.

“If you live in Suffolk County, you are at risk of drinking unhealthy water,” says one mailer, containing the backdrop of a dirty well. “But, when Republican Manuel Esteban had the opportunity to change this, he said no.”

In a statement, NYLCV and the Laborers called the water quality act a “once-in-a-lifetime chance for Suffolk County to improve water quality,” adding that they were attempting to encourage voters to “hold their legislators accountable for killing it.”

But by focusing their efforts on just three Republican lawmakers, the two activist groups also are highlighting the three Suffolk legislative races observers think have the biggest chance of changing hands. Thorne, Esteban and Bontempi are freshmen legislators completing their first terms after 2021’s red wave.

Ironically, some Democrats have posited that the reason Republicans delayed any action on the water quality act was to avoid having a pro-environment referendum on the November ballot, perhaps in fear that Democrats would turn out in higher numbers to vote for it.

While Republicans have denied that argument, saying their decisions were on the merits of the act, it seems that NYLCV and the Laborers are betting now that Democrats will turn out because the water quality referendum is not on the ballot.

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

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