(The following article was published by the Associated Press.)
LONDON — London Mayor Ken Livingstone announced Friday that the former head of a Philadelphia-based rail company will run London’s ailing Underground.
Tim O’Toole, 47, former head of Consolidated Rail Corp., a freight company, will take over in the spring, when the partial privatization of the Tube gets under way.
He will have his work cut out for him. London’s subway, which carries 3 million people a day, is the world’s oldest, with some trains still running through tunnels that opened in 1863.
There are frequent complaints of poor service and maintenance, and a derailment on Jan. 25 forced the closure of the Central Line, the Underground’s longest and one of its busiest.
Underground managers said Friday that trains would not resume running over the whole route until mid-March, and the Central Line would not be back to full strength until the end of that month.
Investigators think the derailment may have been caused by a motor falling from the train and onto the tracks. Engineers are currently repairing 2,800 motors on the line’s 700 trains.
Livingstone recently took control of the Underground after agreeing to drop his legal challenge to the plan to place the Tube under the management of a public-private partnership.
He had strongly opposed the idea, saying it would endanger commuters’ safety and waste money, but Prime Minister Tony Blair (news – web sites)’s government prevailed.
Livingstone selected O’Toole, an American, as managing director of London Underground on the recommendation of Transport Commissioner Bob Kiley, another American who formerly headed the New York City subway.
O’Toole told reporters safety would be his priority.
“The bottom line for me is that although this is an enormous job and very complex, we do have a great opportunity to return the Underground to the great system it once was,” he said. “I will leave no effort undone to see that happen.”
Under the privatization plan, London Underground Ltd., a publicly owned company, will retain control over train operations and fare collection, while two private consortiums will lease the infrastructure.
O’Toole ran Conrail from 1998 to 2001.