Metro GM Wiedefeld taps another New York subway veteran for senior role

Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld has hired another New York City Transit veteran to serve in a senior role — this time to head the agency’s capital planning department, which oversees the system’s long-term needs.

In a memo to staff on Wednesday, Wiedefeld announced the appointment of Craig Stewart as chief of capital planning and program management. Stewart was most recently senior director of the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority’s capital program, managing a $32 billion capital plan.

Stewart will be paid a salary of $235,000.

Wiedefeld said Stewart will oversee design, construction and planning and asset management for the system, which was recently valued at nearly $40 billion. He will oversee the system’s six-year, $7.2 billion capital improvement program.

“We’re very fortunate to get him,” Wiedefeld said. “It’s really the last senior executive management piece that I was trying to fill. … Clearly, we have to turn our attention to the future of this agency,” Wiedefeld added, remarking on Stewart’s role in addressing the system’s long-term needs.

Stewart has more than 35 years of experience with capital programs and budgets, including a stints as the New York subway’s chief officer and vice president of capital programs and senior corporate management officer.

He replaces John Thomas, who served as acting chief of the department and will return as chief engineer.

Stewart’s hiring rounds out a senior staff that it headed by veterans of the New York subway. Wiedefeld hired two other New York City Transit veterans to serve in top positions last year: Chief Operating Officer Joseph Leader and Chief Safety Officer Pat Lavin.

Stewart will inherit a program focused on safety and reliability needs, including the yearlong SafeTrack maintenance program, and the acquisition of new 7000-series railcars, which officials have called the future of the agency. In a new report released this week, the Government Accountability Office scolded Metro for rushing into the round-the-clock track work without conducting extensive research or planning beforehand. The agency defended itself, however, saying the repairs were urgently needed, and officials couldn’t wait for a thorough plan to be formulated before launching into it.

“I have no regrets on how we attacked that thing,” Wiedefeld said.

Stewart begins his duties April 3.