Rinaldi, a Native Long Islander, Becomes the 41st President of the Long Island Rail Road and the Second Person to Serve Concurrently as Leader of the LIRR and Metro-North Railroad
View Photos of Rinaldi’s Arrival at LIRR Offices
Catherine Rinaldi, who was appointed as Interim President of the Long Island Rail Road by MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber on Feb. 10, today began her first day in the office. She at LIRR headquarters in Jamaica, Queens, aboard train #2010, the 7:37 a.m. Ronkonkoma Branch departure from Penn Station, which arrived in Jamaica on time at 7:57 a.m.
“I’m excited to get to work at a historic time for Long Island and the LIRR in a year that will bring the completion of the East Side Access and Main Line Expansion projects,” Rinaldi said. “LIRR customers, who are already seeing the benefits of record service reliability, can look forward to expanded travel choices and an even better overall commuting experience.”
Rinaldi grew up in Huntington, Long Island. She served as Vice President and General Counsel at the Long Island Rail Road from 2008 to 2011. Rinaldi was named the 2018 Woman of the Year by the Greater New York Chapter of the Women’s Transportation Seminar. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale and received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
She succeeds Phillip Eng, who served for nearly four years as the LIRR’s 40th President, leading the railroad to embrace technology as it improved on-time performance every year since 2019 and set on-time records in 2020 and 2021.
Peter Stangl, the first president of Metro-North Railroad, from 1983 to 1991, served concurrently as Acting LIRR President from summer 1989 to April 1990.