New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Chair/CEO Janno Lieber appointed Rob Free as the 42nd president of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR).

Free served as LIRR’s acting president for the last six months. He began his career with the railroad as a station cleaner 31 years ago, rising through the ranks to become chief transportation officer and sr. VP, operations, before becoming president.

Rob Free’s Impact Already Felt at LIRR

Free was instrumental in the rollout of LIRR service to Grand Central Madison, helping to oversee a 41% increase in service that accompanied the terminal’s opening, the largest service increase in LIRR history.

During his time in LIRR leadership, the MTA also completed the Main Line Third Track project that enabled a 41% service increase, opened the first new LIRR station in 50 years at (Elmont-UBS Arena), and completed an overhaul of the LIRR concourse at Penn Station while continuing to run robust train service all throughout construction.

As President, Free will oversee LIRR’s 24/7 service, 700 miles of tracks, and 126 stations — which includes three of the top five busiest commuter railroad stations in North America. Free says a top goal is to boost ridership and continue to adjust schedules to improve on-time performance even more.

“When I joined the LIRR as a 22-year-old station cleaner, I never imagined that one day I would be running this incredible organization,” said Free. “It’s been an amazing journey so far and I am excited to continue to build on our successes and make the riding experience even better for Long Islanders. Ridership continues to climb, with weekdays routinely carrying 230,000-plus riders, as is on-time performance which has been above 95% for three straight months.”

Continuing to Propel LIRR Forward

As acting president, Free promised to prioritize three things: safety for riders and employees, increased reliability, and higher customer satisfaction.

Over the past six months, Free has delivered in all three areas. MTAPD increased its presence on the rails bringing a greater sense of security to everyone on trains and in stations. LIRR enjoyed it’s best February in 12 years with 96.3% of trains arriving on-time, which is also the sixth-best month in LIRR history.

As a result of the rising ridership and improved on-time performance, customer satisfaction has increased. He’s also previously led initiatives that improved customer satisfaction such as replacing more than 12,000 seat cushions over the last two years and regularly personally surveys platform operations and checks bathrooms to ensure they are clean and in good working order.