(The following article by Joie Tyrrell was posted on the Newsday website on August 9.)
NEW YORK — James Dermody, who started as a ticket clerk for the Long Island Rail Road at age 17 and worked his way up to become president, announced his retirement yesterday after nearly a half-century with the railroad.
“I am always proud of the team at the Long Island Rail Road and our ability to continually provide a safe, quality service for our customers,” Dermody said in a memo to his staff.
Dermody, 65, of Mastic Beach, received high praise for his 48-year tenure with the LIRR, but commuter advocates and local leaders were concerned yesterday about his replacement. Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials declined to comment. The MTA had once proposed merging the LIRR with its sister commuter railroad, Metro-North, but the plan was never realized.
“A while ago, we were able to stop that,” said State Sen. Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), who sits on the MTA Capital Review Board. “We want somebody whose focus is going to be the LIRR, not Metro-North; not the subway, but maintaining service and keeping fares down for Long Island Rail Road customers.”
Dermody, whose retirement is effective Sept. 1, was named the railroad’s 37th president in 2003, in charge of the busiest commuter railroad in the nation, which carries an average of 262,000 passengers a day on more than 700 trains. He oversees 6,100 employees and a system that runs on 701 miles of track.
Dermody, who served as acting president before he was officially named president, oversaw the railroad at several critical times, such as the 2003 blackout, the Republican National Convention and the transit strike last year. But commuters stranded in a weekend blizzard earlier this year criticized the railroad for hourslong delays and disrupted service.
Still, overall during his tenure, “service improved tremendously, maintenance improved, the capital program expanded,” said Suffolk County MTA Board member Mitch Pally. “In any objective test of his tenure, I think he was highly esteemed.”
The executive director of the Long Island Rail Road Commuter’s Council, Beverly Dolinsky, said he will be difficult to replace. “He knows where every bolt and every track is, and how the cars are built,” she said. “I don’t think there’s anyone there who knows the ins and outs of running it.”